


we gamble with desire

by hsmuffintop (elizabethwcu)



Series: we gamble with desire [1]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Blow Jobs, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, F/F, F/M, Female Harry, Female Zayn, Hand Jobs, Multi, Orgasm Control, Piercings, Riding, Threesome - F/F/M, but all three of them participate so I figured I'd tag it, but it's mostly Liam and one of the girls while the other one sits closeby and watches, it happens once, very slight though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 07:30:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7565479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabethwcu/pseuds/hsmuffintop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Did you really start drooling when Haz showed you a picture of me?” Liam’s laughing before he can get the whole sentence out, and Zayn throws her head back and laughs before shoving at his shoulder a few times.</p><p>“I didn’t drool,” she says, but Liam knows that’s not the end of her statement. “I might’ve gone a little pink because I was thinking inappropriate thoughts about you, but that’s all.”</p><p>Liam’s interest is more than piqued. “Oh? What kind of inappropriate thoughts?” Zayn chuckles and grabs his hand, pulling him behind her and back towards the club.</p><p>“Come dance with me and maybe you’ll find out.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	we gamble with desire

**Author's Note:**

> first and foremost, I want to thank Nicki [ liamlikesmugs ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/liamlikesmugs/pseuds/liamlikesmugs) for helping me through all the rough patches and writer's block I got while writing this thing, and for reading it and getting hype for every update I sent. I also want to thank the few curious anons who sent me messages asking about this fic and putting up with me talking about it.
> 
> now some stuff about the fic: Zayn and Harry are both girls in this universe and have always been that way. Louis and Niall show up a few times but truthfully around the middle of the fic I was so focused on writing Zirry's relationship that I kind of forgot about them oops. speaking of Louis, Freddie is mentioned, but after doing research and finding out that he didn't even exist at the time that the fic starts, I pushed up his birthday and made it so he was born in 2015. I know I could have changed everyone else's ages, but that was simpler.
> 
> obligatory disclaimer that I don't own One Direction and this is a work of fiction and will (hopefully) not be posted anywhere they can see it.
> 
> title from Jasey Rae by All Time Low.

Liam thought his life was going just fine, thank you very much. He’d gotten into his first choice uni four years ago, and is doing better than okay in all of his classes (except Maths but he’s still passing so he counts that as a win). He’s on the track to graduate with a Music degree in the spring, with a concentration in Entrepreneurship (that could turn into its own degree if he takes a couple extra classes) and someday wants to open his own…something. Studio? Production company? He doesn’t quite know yet, but he’s got a few months to figure it out. He’s got his three best mates that he’s met over the last few years, and he honestly much prefers having a few close mates than a lot of mates who are more like acquaintances. He likes only having to text three people to see if any of them want to go out with him on the weekends, and even if they all say no, at least one of them will invite him around to theirs for a movie or just to hang out. Sometimes they order takeaway and usually end the night with a bit of a cuddle on the couch, something Liam has recently discovered he quite likes to do with his friends.

It’s early one Friday afternoon when Liam’s done with his classes that he pulls up the group chat Harry had created when she’d joined the group, stating that it was easier to send one message to all three of the others than to send the same message three separate times. _“What if you don’t want the others to see your conversation?”_ Niall had asked. _“Like if we’re planning a surprise or summat?”_ Harry had fixed him with a look and said, in what Liam has since mentally coined her Captain Obvious voice, _“Then you talk about it in a separate conversation.”_ Niall had nodded his head like she’d made a good point, and Louis had started cackling because _“you really hadn’t thought of that, Niall?”_

Liam types out a message like he does every Friday when they haven’t yet made plans for the weekend: _**anybodyyy want to come out with meee tonightttttttt???**_ He sends his message and waits, knowing that at least Niall would text back right away if he wasn’t busy because he somehow scheduled his classes so that he doesn’t have any on Mondays or Fridays. Lucky bastard.

True to form, Liam’s mobile vibrates not even a minute later with a message from Niall: _**sounds sick mate ! i’m down . what time ?**_

Right as he’s texting Niall back, he gets a message from Harry: _**I have plans with a girl from my maths class but I’m sure she won’t mind joining us. I’ll text her and see if she’s okay with it.**_

Liam waits a little bit to hear back from Harry, and Louis texts back two messages in the meantime, one right after the other: _**I could use a boy’s night. well, plus Haz and her friend.**_ Then: _**hey Haz is she that fit bird I saw you with yesterday?**_

Harry: _**Zayn says she’ll come out with us. she needs some new friends and I guess you lot’ll do.**_

Harry: _**yeah Lou she is. I’m gonna tell her you think she’s fit :P**_

Louis: _**tell her Nialler and Liam do too cuz I know they will.**_

Niall: _**what do you mean “you lot’ll do”? I’m hurt Haz XD**_

Louis: _**yeah that’s a bit offensive mate. me and Liam are great friends.**_

Niall: _**hey what about me??**_

Louis: _**you’ll do**_

Harry: _**you’ll do**_

Liam laughs at Louis and Harry telling Niall the same thing at the same time, then decides that he should probably say something since he’s the one who started the conversation in the first place.

Liam: _**Niallerrrrrrrr I’ll be your frienddddddddd :))))))) louis how do you know me and Niall will think shes fit???????**_

Niall: _**cheers mate . i’ll buy you a pint for bein my friend**_

Louis: _**because she’s the fittest bird i’ve ever seen leeyum**_

Harry: _**Lou you and Niall don’t have a chance. I showed her pictures of you lot and she started drooling over our Liam so he’s probably gonna get some tonight ;)**_

Liam feels himself turn pink at Harry’s message, looking around to make sure nobody is around to read it over his shoulder even though campus is almost deserted at this time on a Friday, most people gone home for the weekend or getting ready to go out later in the night.

If he’s being honest with himself, he wouldn’t mind pulling tonight, but he’s conflicted. On one hand, he hasn’t pulled in a while, being too busy with his coursework to go out a couple months back, and his last relationship had ended last summer. If Zayn is as fit as Louis says she is, he definitely won’t mind spending the night with her.

On the other hand, she’s Harry’s friend, and will probably be friends with the rest of their little group soon enough. And this is the first time he’s meeting her, so he doesn’t want to be presumptuous and make her think that he thinks she’d go home with someone she’d just met. There’s also the fact that Harry’s into girls sometimes, and if Zayn is as fit as Louis says she is, Harry might have already laid claim to her, and Liam doesn’t want to ruin whatever relationship they may have already gotten started.

But if she’s suggesting that Liam might be getting some anyway…his head hurts.

They finally agree on a time to meet at the bar twenty minutes later, after Louis and Niall stopped trying to prove that they most certainly _would_ have a chance with Zayn by listing all of their best traits, quickly devolving from “I’m a romantic and would treat her like a lady (Louis)” to “I can hold my breath for seven minutes so I’d be great at giving her head (Niall).”

Liam walks the short distance between the spot where he’d been sitting in front of the English building to his dorm, opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator up to his room on the fourth floor because he’d skipped out on his run this morning and needs to make up for it somehow.

He unlocks his door and walks into his room, taking his backpack off and dropping it on the floor with probably more force than he should before going over to where his laptop is sitting on his desk and turning on some music to listen to while he gets ready.

Liam had taken a shower that morning and hadn’t done anything more strenuous than climbing three flights of stairs just now, but he didn’t even break a sweat doing that (something of which all his friends are jealous), so he decides against taking another shower and just puts on a little more deodorant and a fresh pair of pants.

It takes him longer than entirely necessary to figure out what to wear. If he were just going out with Niall and Louis, he’d wear a vest and trackies with a matching hat. If Harry was with them, he’d probably wear the same thing, but jeans instead of trackies. But he’s meeting someone new tonight, apparently the fittest girl Louis’s ever seen who also happens to think Liam is fit, too, if Harry’s word is anything to go by, and it usually is. He’s got to make a good impression, and that starts with his outfit.

He finally settles on some worn-in blue jeans, a black t-shirt that may be a little tighter than it needs to be (he worked hard to get these abs and biceps, and he’s going to show them off, dammit), his boots, and a hoodie.

Of course, because he took so long figuring out what to wear, he doesn’t have time to do anything important like brush his teeth or fix his hair. He looks in the mirror and tries to bring some life back into the little half-quiff he’d done that morning, and does so successfully. He also doesn’t have time to brush his teeth, so he swishes some mouthwash and pops two pieces of gum in his mouth before spraying on some cologne and heading out the door, only just remembering to grab his wallet and keys on his way out.

***

When Liam gets to the bar, he knows he’s late. He was only running a couple minutes late when he left his dorm, but he had to wait at every single crosswalk between his dorm and the bar, traffic heavy because of people leaving to go home for the weekend. He looks around and sees that he’s the last one to arrive, the four of his friends sitting in one of the corner booths. They’ve all got beers sitting in front of them, and there’s one sitting by itself by the edge of the table, which Liam assumes is for him.

Liam walks up to the table and gives everyone a little half-wave. “Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late. I got stopped at every bloody crosswalk between my dorm and here.” He slides in to sit next to Zayn and reaches for the unclaimed beer, taking a sip once he’s got it.

“We were about to leave ya, mate,” Niall says. “The girls wanna dance somewhere not here, so we were thinkin’ about goin’ to the club down the street when we all get done with this round.” Liam nods, then looks around at everyone else’s almost-empty glasses.

“Guess I’m gonna have to chug this, yeah?” he asks, and Louis smiles.

“Yeah, unless you wanna stay here while we go have fun with the girls.” Liam chuckles a little and picks up his glass, tilting both it and his head toward Louis before putting it to his lips and drinking the whole thing down in one go. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and puts his glass down before looking around at everyone.

“Ready to go?”

  
  


The club isn’t too far away, within walking distance, but far enough away that you could take a cab if necessary. It’s nice out tonight; the unseasonably hot day leading to a warm, albeit somewhat sticky, night.

Once they’re far enough away from the bar, Louis stops and takes a pack of cigarettes out of his hoodie pocket, taking one out and putting it between his lips before offering them up to the other four.

“Lou, you know Niall and I don’t smoke,” Harry says, currently hanging onto Niall’s left arm and resting her head on his shoulder. Louis shrugs, moving the pack closer to Liam so he can take one. Liam’s always bumming off Louis and makes a mental note to buy Louis a pack the next time he buys one for himself.

“Just bein’ polite, Haz. And you never know, something might hit you one day and you’ll want one.” She just rolls her eyes.

Louis’s holding the pack out to Zayn now, but she’s rifling through her bag for something.

“Zayn,” Louis says, and she looks up, wide-eyed.

“What?”

“Do you want one?”

She huffs and goes back to looking through her bag. “Yeah, but I can’t find – aha!” She takes out what Liam thinks looks like a large compact, but, upon her opening it, sees a neat row of cigarettes. “I’ve got my own.” She takes one out and puts it between her lips, now matching Louis and Liam.

Louis’s eyebrows are raised, and he makes a “not bad” face before putting his pack back in his hoodie pocket. He pats all of his pockets, probably looking for a lighter, and comes up short. “Shit.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got one,” Zayn says, reaching into her bag again, finding the lighter much quicker than she’d found the cigarette case, which Liam thinks is odd because the lighter is much smaller –

“Liam!” Louis brings Liam back to the present, where Zayn is offering the lighter to him.

“Sorry. Thanks, love.” He definitely does not blush when he realizes that he just called Zayn “love.” Not at all (from what he sees, Zayn definitely doesn’t blush at all, either).

Harry and Niall walk ahead of the other three on the way to the club, Harry citing her asthma and Niall going wherever Harry goes because of her death grip on his arm.

Louis, Liam, and Zayn all finish smoking right as they’re about to turn the corner to stand in line to get in to the club. They all stub them out and wait in line, walking through the doors a swift five minutes later.

“We got in fast,” Harry says once they’ve found a table to sit at. “It’s usually packed in here on Friday nights.”

“I think a lot of people went home this weekend, more than usual,” Liam supplies, and Harry nods. “That’s why I had to stop at so many crosswalks, because of all the people leaving.”

“I wonder why so many did?” Harry asks. “It’s not a holiday, is it?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Liam replies, and Louis cuts in.

“As much as I hate to interrupt your fascinating conversation about the traffic patterns on campus, we came here to dance, and I’m not getting my arse out on that floor until I’ve had at least three more drinks.”

“By drinks do you mean shots?” Liam asks, already knowing the answer.

“Of course I do, Liam. First round’s on me!” He doesn’t bother to ask what everyone might want before bounding off towards the bar. Liam thinks, not for the first time, that if Louis was as enthusiastic about his coursework as he is about drinking, he’d have the highest grades in the school.

Louis comes back almost immediately, followed by someone Liam assumes works at the bar, holding a tray of shots above his head.

“Right here’s fine, thanks love,” Louis says as he gives him a tenner and a wink before the guy walks away.

“How’d you get these so fast?” Harry asks, and Louis smirks.

“Told him we were out celebrating me being newly single, said I’d give him a nice tip and maybe my number if he got my order done first.”

“But Louis, you aren’t gay,” Liam says, knowing that Harry is rolling her eyes at him.

“Duh. Sex sells, Payno. Fortunately, this arse can get me almost anything I want, and what I wanted was shots.” Liam nods his head because he knows arguing with Louis is useless.

“What’d you get us?” Zayn asks, and Louis rubs his hands together, which never means anything good.

“Just a visit from our good friend Jose,” Louis says, and everyone takes a glass. Louis raises his in the air and everyone follows. “To friends, new and old,” he says, everyone clinking their glasses together before downing their shots. Liam is sure they all have identical winces on their faces, but in an hour, it won’t matter.

Louis ends up ordering two more rounds of shots, and they all decide to stop for a while. They all alternate between the dance floor and their table, not bothering to keep one person there at all times because there’s not near as many people here tonight as there usually are.

Liam stays on the dance floor longer than any of the other four do, letting the alcohol in his bloodstream guide his body, swaying to the music. He mostly dances by himself, not wanting to accidentally dance up on someone’s girlfriend (or boyfriend) like has happened before. Sure, he dances with his friends when they come out and join him, but when he’s by himself, he just closes his eyes and lets the music wash over him and take him to his happy place.

About halfway through the night, Zayn dances up to him, a glass in her hand.

“Here,” she says, handing it to him. At the unsure look on his face, she says, “It’s just water. Thought you looked hot out here. I mean,” she starts, realizing what she’d said right after she said it. “You looked like you were hot, like sweaty, because of all your dancing…” She trails off and Liam just smiles at her, because that is so kind of her to think of him, to come out here and get him a glass of water because he looked sweaty. He takes the glass and gulps it down, not unlike his beer earlier at the bar. He feels the cold going down his throat and into his stomach, and then instantly gets brain-freeze from drinking it too fast.

“Shit,” he says, holding his forehead and pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth, something he’d once read would help a brain-freeze go away.

“Brain-freeze?” Zayn asks, and Liam nods. “Yeah, Louis got it too when I made him drink some water a minute ago.” She pauses, letting him gather himself as his headache goes away. “Do you wanna go for a smoke? It’ll probably feel nice out there because it’s so hot in here.” Liam nods and just barely keeps his eyes from popping out of his head when Zayn grabs his hand, taking his glass and putting it on a random table before going outside.

Zayn was right; it does feel really good out here. There’s a slight breeze that makes goosebumps come up on Liam’s sweaty skin, but he’ll get used to it. Zayn hands him a cigarette and her lighter, letting him light up before doing the same. They stand in silence for a little bit, leaning back against one of the walls of the club, enjoying the calm of the night compared to the chaos inside.

“So what all did I miss learning about you at the bar?” Liam asks, hoping that he’s not being too forward by asking outright like that.

Zayn takes a drag from her cigarette, a thoughtful look on her face. “Well,” she starts, exhaling a stream of smoke before continuing. “I guess I’ll tell you what I told everyone else. I’m 23, from Bradford, which Louis was excited about.” She smiles, and Liam knows why.

“He said you’re the first interesting person he’s met from Yorkshire, yeah?” Zayn nods, and Liam rolls his eyes. “He’s been looking for a friend from Yorkshire, so that’s good.”

“Yeah.” She pauses, taking another drag and letting it out before speaking again. “I’m a double major, which Harry said you were too, but Louis said you weren’t, and they argued for a bit before I could say anything else.” She chuckles to herself and Liam kind of wants to hear that sound more often.

“Well they’re both right, kind of,” Liam says, chuckling too. Zayn looks at him, confused, and he flaps his hands about a little, trying to think of how to explain it. “I’ve got my one major, yeah, and that’s Music, but I’ve also got a concentration in Entrepreneurship along with it. If I take a couple extra classes, I can turn it into a major, but currently, it’s not. So yeah, they’re both right.” Zayn nods, the earlier argument finally making sense.

“So what about you?” Zayn asks, crossing her arms across her chest. “Anything important I need to know?”

Liam chuckles to himself and self-consciously runs a hand over the back of his neck. “Not really. I’m 22, gonna be 23 end of August, and I already told you about my major and stuff. There’s not much else to know.”

“What about your family? Do you have any siblings, pets, anything like that?” Liam’s eyes light up and Zayn knows she’s asked something good.

“I’ve got two sisters, both older than me, and they’ve both moved away from home and started their own lives. I’ve got a dog at home called Watson, and I would’ve brought him here but I couldn’t.”

Zayn nods. “Because of the dorms?”

Now Liam nods. “Yeah, but also because he’s bloody huge. Sitting down, the top of his head comes up just above me hips.” He holds a hand out to show her, because he might not be accurately describing the size of his dog.

Her eyes go wide. “Holy shit! What kind of dog gets that big?”

“He’s a Great Dane. He’s still a puppy, too, so he’s only gonna get bigger.” Zayn shakes her head in disbelief, and they both take drags from their cigarettes during the pause.

“What about you?” Liam asks, “do you have any siblings?” Zayn rolls her eyes and huffs.

“Yeah. Three sisters; two younger, one older.” Liam whistles in astonishment. “Yeah,” Zayn says again, sighing this time. “They’re a pain sometimes, but I love them. Always will, no matter how annoying they get.” Liam nods, knowing exactly what she’s talking about.

There’s another lull in their conversation before Liam speaks again. “What order did you all get to the bar?” he asks, out of curiosity.

“Niall was already there when Haz and I showed up, then Louis, then you.”

Liam hums in thought. “That’s weird, Louis’s usually first or second to get to places. I knew Niall’d be there first because he didn’t have any classes today, but Louis running late isn’t like him.”

“Yeah, he said as much. Kept apologizing. Something about how he couldn’t get a sitter for Freddie and had to drive halfway across town to drop him off at his sister’s before coming here.” Zayn notices the smile that comes up on Liam’s face when she says Freddie’s name. “You seem to like him a lot.”

“Oh, I love him. We all do. Had to stop Louis from having a psychotic break when he was born ‘cause he was so worried about being a bad father.” He thinks about it for a second before continuing. “Did he show you a picture?”

“Yeah,” Zayn laughs, covering her mouth as she does so. Liam finds himself wishing she wouldn’t. “I actually thought he was talking about a pet at first, was wondering why he would go through all this trouble for a dog or cat or whatever. Then he showed me the picture and it made much more sense.”

“Yeah, a lot of people don’t think Louis would be the guy to have a kid while he’s in uni, but he does. It’s been pretty good so far, though, and all his professors have been lenient on deadlines when he needs extensions because Freddie’s been sick or whatever. And if they’re not budging, he shows them a picture and they do whatever they can to help Louis.” He takes out his phone and opens his “Freddie” album, pulling up a picture of the boy with chocolate all over his face. He turns his phone towards Zayn. “Who in their right mind would be able to say no to that?”

“I know I wouldn’t,” she says, stubbing out her cigarette against the wall they’re leaning against. “So how did you lot all become friends?” Liam puts his phone back in his pocket and crosses his arms across his chest, taking one last drag from his cigarette before copying Zayn and stubbing it out on the wall. He exhales the smoke in his lungs with a deep sigh, thinking for a moment before speaking.

“Niall and Louis were already friends when I came along. They were roommates freshman year and thought they were gonna hate each other until Niall saw all Louis’s football posters and started a conversation. They started talking about stuff other than football and found out that they were really different, but meshed really well. They argue like an old married couple, but it’s all because they love each other.”

Zayn nods. “So you joined the group next?”

“Yeah. I was sitting on one of the cement step things, you know, in the courtyard?” Zayn makes an “mmhmm” noise and Liam continues. “I was sitting on one and was killing time between classes when I heard someone start playing a guitar nearby. I got up and went to see who it was, because they were really good, and it was Niall.”

“Is he really good at guitar?”

“Yeah, best player I know. He can play anything you ask for, and if he doesn’t know it, he can look up the chords and play it as he reads them. It’s mad.”

Zayn hums, wrapping her arms around herself. Liam thinks that she must be cold; he would be, too, if he was in her shoes. She’s wearing a strapless black dress, fitted tight across her chest and down to her waist, where it flares out into a skirt that falls to her mid-thigh. She’s got on dark red Doc Martens and her hair is down, but even with how long it is it can’t be doing much for warmth.

“Are you cold?” Liam asks, and Zayn shakes her head, even though she’s started rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

“I’m fine.” Liam gives her a look and pulls his hoodie over his head, offering it to her once it’s off. A breeze across his belly tells him that his shirt has partially come up with it, so he pulls it down after she takes the hoodie from him. He can’t help but notice that her eyes have gone a little wide, her gaze staying on where his abs were recently exposed for just half a second too long. He smirks at her after she gets his hoodie over her head.

“What?” she asks, and he knows that if the lighting were better and her skin were more fair, her cheeks would be bright pink.

“Did you like what you saw?” he asks, shaking his hips a little, the smile on his face turning into a laugh when she tries to cover the smile that’s crept onto her face.

“Shut up!” she says, swatting at him, chuckling a little. He doesn’t move out of the way, so her hand lands on his bicep, squeezing a little before she lets go. “It’s not my fault you’re super fit! Or that your shirt rode up and gave me a great view of your body that looks like it was…chiseled from stone or something!” Liam is laughing so hard it hurts now, but it’s a good laugh, coming up from deep in his belly, and he’s been needing a good laugh recently. He takes a few breaths to calm down and when he does so, he notices that Zayn almost looks embarrassed.

“What?” he asks, suddenly concerned.

“Nothing,” she says, but he knows from her tone she’s about to tell him anyway. “It’s just that I just told you how fit I think you are and now it’s gonna be awkward between us and I’ve ruined my chance of becoming part of the friend group because I think one of my potential best mates is hot.” Liam knows he’s making a sad face, probably his puppy dog face, and it’s confirmed when Zayn rolls her eyes and puts her head in her hands. “And now you’re making that sad face and I feel terrible!” Liam thinks she’s about to start crying and he can’t have that, so he tries to save the situation before it becomes a disaster.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he says, resting gentle hands on her wrists, hoping his touch will make her take her hands away from her face. “You’re not the only one who thinks one of us is fit. We tell each other all the time! So really, you’d be a stand out if you _didn’t_ think I was fit.” Zayn laughs a little, so he keeps going. “And you thinking I’m fit isn’t going to mess anything up, because I think you’re fit, too. We all do, honestly. Well, me and Lou, anyway. I’m sure Niall and Harry do, they’d be stupid not to.” She looks up at him at that, a smile on her face, and Liam knows he’s done good because he can see it in her eyes.

“How d’you know Louis thinks I’m fit?” she asks, and he tells her.

“When we were figuring out what to do tonight, Haz said she had plans with you, but we didn’t know it was you at the time, and said she’d see if you wanted to come out with us instead. So Louis asked if you were that fit bird he’d seen Haz with the other day, and – ”

“Aww, that’s nice of him,” she says, and he continues.

“That’s not all, though. He said that and Haz said she’d tell you that Lou thought you were fit, and he said to tell you that Niall and me did too. So I asked how he knew that we would think you were fit, and he said, and I quote, that you were the fittest bird he’s ever seen.” Zayn makes a disbelieving face at him, so he pulls out his phone and shows her the group text, hoping she won’t read the part where Niall and Louis fight over who she’d hypothetically pick, but she does anyway.

“Can Niall really hold his breath for seven minutes?” she asks, her face now covered in a look of astonishment. Liam nods, holding out his hand for her to give his phone back, and she does.

“He did it on accident, kind of. He used to be big on frat parties, and he’d always end up on the business end of a beer bong, but he’d always run out of air before he could finish it. So he just got better and better at holding his breath, and eventually decided to time it one day.” He shrugs, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“That’s cool,” Zayn says, and they stand in silence for a bit, before curiosity gets the best of Liam.

“Did you really start drooling when Haz showed you a picture of me?” He’s laughing before he can get the whole sentence out, and she throws her head back and laughs before shoving at his shoulder a few times.

“I didn’t _drool_ ,” she says, but Liam knows that’s not the end of her statement. “I might’ve gone a little pink because I was thinking inappropriate thoughts about you, but that’s all.”

Liam’s interest is more than piqued. “Oh? What kind of inappropriate thoughts?” Zayn chuckles and grabs his hand, pulling him behind her and back towards the club.

“Come dance with me and maybe you’ll find out.”

***

Liam wakes up the next morning (read: afternoon) with a surprisingly not-that-bad headache. He’s thirsty as hell, though, and he thanks past drunk him for leaving a bottle of water and a couple pain pills on his bedside table.

Except, it’s not his bedside table. It’s not Harry’s, Niall’s, or Louis’s, either. His slightly hungover brain takes a minute to put the pieces together, but he figures out that he must be at Zayn’s flat. Well, he _hopes_ he’s at Zayn’s flat. He’s in an actual bedroom, and he can see through the crack in the door that there’s a bigger room beyond this one, so it must be a flat. He’s alone in bed, and, thankfully, still in his pants, so he takes the pain pills and downs the whole bottle of water, putting his jeans on before walking out of the bedroom.

He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Zayn standing in front of her open refrigerator, a couple of pans of something cooking on the stove. Zayn must hear his sigh because she turns around and smiles at him.

“Glad to see you’re finally up,” she says, turning back around and continuing what she was doing. “I thought you might be hungry and hungover, I know I am, so I made a fry up. There’s toast on the table and I would’ve made you tea, but I didn’t want it to be cold by the time you got up. I also don’t know how you take it, so,” she shrugs, ending her thought there. Liam just stands in the same spot a few steps away from her bedroom door and stares at her. She turns around again. “What?”

Liam shakes his head, trying to jumble some words around to make a coherent thought. “I’m just – I don’t know what to say. You didn’t have to do all this.”

Zayn shrugs again, dividing the steaming food in the pans between two plates. “My mum taught me that food brings people together. And that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” She carries the two plates over to the table, placing each in front of the two chairs there. She sits in one and gestures between Liam and the empty one. “You gonna come eat this or are you just gonna let it get cold?” Liam walks over to the table and sits, but only for a second because he remembers she’d said something about tea and tea always helps his hangovers, no matter how big or small. Zayn gives him a look.

“You said there was tea?” he asks, and Zayn nods, pointing to the cabinets above her stove.

“Yeah, kettle’s on the stove, there should be a mug over there with a bag already in it, so just make it how you like. Sugar’s near the kettle and milk’s in the fridge, if you take it.” Liam follows her directions and comes back to the table a minute later with a nice hot cuppa. He lets it sit for a moment while he tucks in to Zayn’s fry up, the first bite making him let out a moan.

“That good?” Zayn asks, smirking around the lip of her tea mug. Liam nods seriously, taking another few bites before speaking.

“This is the best fry up I’ve ever had. What’s in it?” He usually likes his fry ups with all the different foods separate, but Zayn’s somehow mixed some of them together, and it’s delicious.

She shrugs again. She’s doing a lot of shrugging today. “It’s different each time, depends on what I’ve got in the fridge, but it almost always has eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes, because I try to keep them stocked all the time. I usually throw in some veg, today there’s mushrooms and peppers, and I was gonna add some onion but it smelled off so I just binned it.” She scrunches up her nose while talking about the off onion and Liam can’t help but let a small smile creep onto his face.

“I’ve never had it all mixed together like this. I like it.” Zayn smiles.

“Thanks, mate! I used to make it all separate, but cooking it all together like this cuts down on the dishes I have to wash after. That, and I figure it’s all gonna end up in the same place anyway, so why not go ahead and mix it all together to begin with?” Liam nods as he continues to eat, and it just keeps getting better and better as he goes.

“How do you make it? Like is there an order to how you cook everything or do you just kind of throw it all in a pan and hope for the best?” He smiles around his fork and Zayn’s smile doesn’t seem to have left her face. Liam likes that.

“I usually do the meats first so they can be cooked and still warm when I mix it all up. Then I do the eggs in the same pan as the meats, get up all the flavor from the grease and the little crunchy bits on the bottom of the pan, then add the meats back in when they’re almost done. I do the potatoes and veg in another pan, then make sure it’s all cooked through and pop it all on a plate.”

“You seem to really enjoy cooking,” Liam notes, and Zayn nods.

“Like I said, my mum taught me that food brings people together. I’m not the oldest, but Doniya didn’t want to learn how to cook, so mum offered to teach me next. I loved it from the second she started teaching me. I’ve learned a lot from her, but I’ve also learned a good bit of stuff on my own, just from looking up recipes and trying them out. She loves to feed people and I do, too; she says it’s all she knows how to do and that she wanted me to go to uni to get a degree and not end up like her, but I can do both, you know? Have a degree and a job and still feed people, at least my friends if I don’t end up having a family.” Liam nods through her story, using a couple pieces of toast to get the last bits of food onto his fork.

“Your mum sounds great,” he says, and she nods.

“Oh, she is. Every time I go home, she’s always made a week’s worth of food for me to bring back with me. I have to take all the containers back every time I go so she can fill them back up.” Zayn sighs, sitting back in her chair with her mug in her hands, her plate seemingly forgotten. “Sometimes when I miss home I’ll make something of hers that she’s been making forever, and I always call her and says it’s not like hers, but it’s close.” She’s got a faraway look in her eyes, and Liam stays quiet, not wanting to disturb her. He takes the quiet moment to take her in, noting differences between last night and right now.

For starters, she’s got her hair piled on top of her head, where last night it was hanging long down her back. She’s got a pair of thick-rimmed glasses on in place of what Liam assumes were contacts (or she just 86’ed them all together and had blurry vision all night). She’s wearing an oversized t-shirt and yoga pants, her makeup from last night nowhere in sight, and Liam dares to think she’s more beautiful like this than she was all dressed up.

It’s then that the memories from last night come back to him, and he remembers wondering right as he’d woken up if they’d done anything after they came here.

“What?” Zayn asks, noticing Liam’s staring.

“Nothing. I just – I was thinking how beautiful you look, and then I remembered telling you about Louis telling us you were fit last night, and then the night kind of all came rushing back at once. But I don’t remember coming here, and I don’t remember if we, um, did, anything?” He knows he’s blushing, can feel the heat on his cheeks.

“Well I didn’t wake up sore, so if we did do something, it wasn’t much.” She laughs at his offended look. “Oh, don’t make that face! It was a compliment! I don’t even know what you’re working with there,” she says, gesturing to his crotch, “but I do know that you know how to fuck a woman, and I know that I’d be sore after, no matter what we did. But to put your mind at ease,” she says, standing and taking his empty plate along with her half-empty one to the kitchen, “I remember everything from last night, and we didn’t do anything. We didn’t even kiss. I wanted to, and tried really hard to get you to, but you kept saying I was a lady and you didn’t want me to think that you thought I was the kind of girl who put out right after meeting somebody.” She puts his plate in the sink and scrapes what’s left on her plate into a container, sticking it in the fridge before putting her plate in the sink, too. “I might have been frustrated with you at the time, but when I woke up I thought it was very nice and commendable that you thought that highly of me.” Liam finishes his tea and walks over to the kitchen, leaning back against the counter and placing his empty mug beside him.

“Well you’re welcome, I think.” They both laugh and it’s then that Liam remembers how much he has to pee, the drinks from last night and the bottle of water and now the mug of tea catching up with him. “Where’s your bathroom?” he asks after their laughter dies down.

“If you go back into my room, it’s the door on the left.” Liam nods and goes back into her room, picking his shirt up off the floor and putting it back on before going into the bathroom.

It’s small, but big enough for one person. There’s a toilet, a sink, and a shower/tub combo, which is all that Liam would need anyway. He takes his position in front of the toilet and relieves himself, washing his hands after because Zayn made him breakfast and it’s only polite.

When he walks back into her room, he finds his socks and shoes and puts them on, checking his pockets for his phone, wallet, and keys before picking up his hoodie and changing his mind, leaving it for Zayn to wear again if she so chooses.

Liam’s met with a sigh and a frown when he walks back out of Zayn’s room. “You put your shirt back on,” she says, pouting. He nods and gestures towards the door, not knowing what to say or how to make his exit.

“Yeah, kinda need one to walk around outside,” he says, and her frown deepens.

“So you’re leaving, then?” Liam really wants to stay here all day and just get to know her, but he feels like that might be crossing a line, seeing as they just met yesterday and he doesn’t want to give her any ideas or pressure her into feeling a certain way about him. Then again, she did say she was trying to get him to do stuff last night…he just doesn’t know.

“Yeah,” he sighs. “I don’t want to, but I’ve got some work to do, a couple tests to study for…I had a good time last night, though,” he says, stepping closer to her, close enough to touch her if he wanted to. “What I can remember of it, anyway.” That makes her smile a little, and Liam feels a little better about leaving. “And breakfast was great; I’m gonna have to spend the night more often if you’re gonna cook like that every time.” She laughs a little at that, and Liam steps in close and gives her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll text you later?” he asks, and she smiles.

“I got your number from Haz last night, Louis’s and Niall’s as well, and she added me to the group chat, so I’ll text you if you don’t text me first.” They say their goodbyes and Liam leaves, returning a second later to ask for directions back to his dorm because he has no idea where her flat is in comparison.

***

The next few weeks go smoothly, not that Liam was expecting anything different. He, Louis, and Niall have welcomed Zayn into their small friend group, much to Harry’s excitement, and they’ve spent as much time together as they can. It’s not that different than before Zayn came along, because the four of them would hang out whenever possible anyway, but it’s nice having someone new. Sometimes it’s the five of them all together, sometimes it’s just two or three. Liam ends up spending a lot of time with Zayn and Harry, only because when Liam texts Zayn or Harry to ask if they want to hang out, they’ve already made plans with each other and invite him along.

One thing Liam notices about Zayn is that she’s very hands-on. She’s always touching Liam when appropriate, like resting a hand on his arm when he makes her laugh or grabbing him and holding him close when they’re watching a scary movie. She does the same kind of stuff with Harry, so Liam doesn’t think much of it; they’re just friendly gestures that she does with everybody. She’s also fond of cheek kisses, but the four of them all did that before, so it’s no big deal that Zayn does it, too.

The five of them are sitting at one of the many tables set up outside the dining hall on campus one day a couple months into the semester. They’ve only got about a month left before Christmas hols, and then a few months after that Liam graduates. It’s all gone by so fast. He doesn’t want it to end. But they’re all sitting there, trying to figure out when to throw Louis a birthday party (either before break or after; Louis is fine with both, because two parties are better than one), when Harry’s phone chimes.

“Sorry lads, Zayn and I have to go. We’ve an appointment.” She stands up and Zayn follows, but they stop when Louis speaks.

“What kind of appointment is more important than sitting here and planning my birthday party?” he asks, and Liam agrees.

“Yeah, what kind of appointment do you have to go to that we can’t go as well?” Zayn looks at Liam after he asks, addressing the table at large though she keeps eye contact with him

“Haz and I are going to get our nails done. If any of you want to join us, you’re welcome to, but you have to get yours done, too, and we get to pick out the color.” She smirks, leaning down close to Liam’s face, picking up his hand and examining it. “I think a nice blue would suit you, hmm?” She smirks and kisses him on the cheek, patting his hand a couple times before walking beck over to Harry and looping their arms together as they leave. The boys sit in silence for a bit before Liam speaks.

“Zayn’s really flirty, yeah?” he asks, and he’s not expecting the blank looks that he gets from Louis and Niall. “What?”

“Yeah, with you and Haz, maybe,” Niall says, leaning back in his chair. “Not with us. At least, not to the hand-holding, cheek-kissing extent that she just was with you.”

“What do you mean?” Liam asks. He’s smart, most of the time, but sometimes girls just really confuse him.

“Well, yeah, she’s really touchy and doesn’t really abide to the rules most people have about personal space,” Louis says, “but all she’s ever done with me is hit me arm once when I made her laugh so hard her drink came out of her nose.”

“Yeah, she shoves me to try to get me to lose at FIFA, but that’s about it. She’s never kissed me on the cheek, mate,” Niall says, and Louis nods, agreeing.

“Never?” Liam asks, and okay, some stuff is starting to make sense, maybe. Louis and Niall shake their heads.

“She’s literally only like that with you and Haz,” Louis says, and Liam nods, wondering if that could mean what he thinks (and definitely does not _hope_ ) it means.

***

They all decide to have Louis’s party before break, after they’ve all finished with their finals. Niall’s friends with a bunch of people in this one fraternity, so he gets the five of them an invite to the big end-of-term party that the frat is hosting. They all decide to meet up at the dining hall beforehand and walk to the party together.

It’s loud, and crowded, and just what Liam’s been needing after cramming for weeks for his exams. This is the first night in a while that he’s been able to let himself relax and drink and have fun without worrying if he’s forgotten to do an assignment. They all head straight for the kitchen when they get in, going straight for the table full of shots and each taking one, then another, and one more just in case. Liam’s head is already buzzing, and he can feel the heat of the alcohol burning in his belly, but it’s a good burn. He likes it.

A couple hours later finds Liam in the middle of a crowded makeshift dance floor, grinding on anyone who gets close enough because he’s drunk, he doesn’t care. Every once in a while, he’ll see Louis or Niall or Zayn or Harry closeby, and he’ll wave or smile or do something in their direction, hoping that they’ve had as much to drink as he has because if they haven’t, he’s making quite the tit of himself out here.

Suddenly Zayn is in front of him, her eyes a little glassy and her movements just this side of uncoordinated, and Liam knows from that that they’re on the same level.

“Hey,” she says, wrapping her arms around his neck and moving in close, letting him place his hands on her hips and move their bodies together, and any other night Liam would be embarrassed by how fast he gets hard from Zayn dancing with him, but, again, he’s drunk, he doesn’t care. He definitely does _not_ squeak when one of Zayn’s hands finds its way to the front of his jeans, feeling him up and smirking as the squeezes him just enough to hurt in the good way.

“Looks like somebody’s happy to see me,” she says, giggling, and Liam really wants to kiss her. So he does.

It’s gentle at first, and Zayn must have been expecting it because she goes right into it, no startle or surprised gasp or anything, moving her lips against Liam’s in a way that feels _heavenly_. It quickly turns from gentle to almost desperate, Zayn’s grip around Liam’s neck and Liam’s grip around her hips tightening and pulling them closer together, and Liam really hopes he remembers this in the morning.

Zayn pulls away all too soon by Liam’s standards, but leans back in to whisper in his ear, biting at his earlobe a bit as she does so. “I’ll be in one of the bedrooms upstairs in a few minutes. Come find me.” And with that, she’s gone, and Liam’s left hard and confused in the middle of the dance floor. He stays out for one more song, hoping that’s enough time for Zayn to have found a room, before making his way through the crowd and up the stairs.

He tries a few doors and finds them all locked, either by the brothers who live there or the people inside doing God knows what on strangers’ beds. There’s two doors left and Liam tries the first one. The knob turns and the door opens, light from the hallway spilling into the room and illuminating the two people moving around on the bed. Liam goes to apologize for interrupting when he recognizes one of the faces.

“Haz?” he says, then, looking closer, “Zayn?” The two girls are sitting up now, Zayn looking worried and Harry looking confused.

“Liam?” Harry asks, shifting up to her knees. “What are you doing here?”

Liam knows he should leave, should turn around and leave them alone because obviously they’re together, at least for right now, and that would be the polite thing to do. But he can’t help but be a little bit mad and hurt that Zayn would lead him on just to show him that he doesn’t have a chance with her.

“I…Zayn was dancing with me, and she said she’d be in one of the bedrooms, and to find her…but I guess you got here first? I’m…” Liam trails off, not knowing what to say, and really not wanting to start crying. “I guess I’ll just go.”

He doesn’t even get turned around before Zayn’s up and out of the bed and grabbing at his arm. “Don’t go, please. I can explain.”

That makes Liam madder, for some reason. “Explain? You can explain how you led me on, kissed me and made me believe that you wanted me as much as I’ve been wanting you? You can explain how you could do all that and have me come up here, only to see you with my best friend, doing God knows what, just to shove it in my face that I’ll never be able to have you like that? I don’t understand, Zayn. What kind of person does that to someone they claim to be their friend?” He tries to leave again, but Zayn’s still got a grip on his arm.

“Liam, that’s…that’s not it at all. You’ve got it all wrong. If you would just come in and let me talk –”

“No, Zayn, I think you’ve already said more than enough.” Liam yanks his arm out of her grip and makes it halfway down the hall before Zayn speaks again. Well, shouts, because the music’s so loud.

“I do want you, Liam!” Liam turns around and sees Zayn coming towards him, barefoot but otherwise still fully dressed. “God, are you really that daft to not be able to see that? I want you, and I have since the first time we all went out together. I told you that, remember? How I kept trying to get in your pants but you wouldn’t let me?”

“Oh,” Liam says, and Zayn keeps on shouting.

“Yeah, that’s right, ‘ _oh_.’ I was basically throwing myself at you all night, even going so far as to potentially embarrass myself by telling you I was thinking inappropriate thoughts when Harry showed me a picture of you!” Harry must hear her name because she pokes her head out of the door.

“Zayn?” she asks, and Liam can see the hurt in her eyes, and he realizes that he’s not the only victim here. Zayn turns and walks back towards her, taking Liam’s wrist and pulling him along with her.

“I think we all need to talk.”

Liam lets himself be led into the room, shutting the door behind him, his ears ringing in the silence compared to the loud music outside. Zayn sits back down on the bed, but Liam and Harry stay standing, side by side, waiting for an explanation.

“This isn’t the way I wanted to do this,” Zayn starts, laughing a little, but it’s hollow and insincere. She sighs and puts her head in her hands, seemingly gathering her thoughts and sighing once more before lifting her head up and looking at Liam and Harry.

“I guess the best way to say this is just to say it, so here goes.” She clears her throat and looks between Liam and Harry again. She looks upset. “I want both of you,” she says, and Liam goes to ask the obvious question but Zayn holds her hand up and stops him. “Not just for a threesome, not just a one-time thing. You both make me so happy, happier than I’ve ever been with friends before, and I wanted to be more than friends with both of you, but I knew that wouldn’t work, and I’d have to choose. When I went home a couple weeks ago, I told my mum about it, and told her about both of you, and all the things about each of you that made me happy, and that I couldn’t choose because you’re both so great. She told me then that the solution was simple; don’t choose. It took me a while to wrap my head around it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. I know it’s probably selfish of me to want you both, but I’ve gone through all the possible outcomes of me choosing only one of you, and every one ends up with somebody sad. And I don’t want to be the cause of either of you being sad, so I decided to either have you both, or not at all. I’m not going to pick one just to have the other be sad and miserable watching me with their friend instead of them.” She pauses, taking a shaky breath and wiping at her eyes a little. “I know you’ve been friends with each other much longer than you’ve been friends with me, so I understand if you don’t want to risk your friendship with this. I just really think this could work, and not just because I want it to. You both make me so happy, and I like to think that I make the both of you happy, so all I’m asking for is a chance to try.” She finishes with a huff, and Liam can see her lower lip wobbling as she tries not to cry. He and Harry must both have the same idea at the same time because they both move to sit beside her on the bed, wrapping their arms around her and shushing her as she cries between them.

“If this is what you wanted, why couldn’t you have just said so?” Harry asks, and Zayn shrugs as best she can with two people holding her tight.

“I don’t know. Looking back, I know I should have just done that. I don’t know why I thought doing it this way would be a good idea.” She sniffles and turns her head towards Liam. “Liam, I’m so sorry that I did that to you and made you think all those things about me. I guess I thought that since you’re a guy, your first reaction to seeing two fit girls together would be to stay and join in, or at least watch.” She laughs, but it’s watery and still a little hollow. “I should’ve remembered that you’re not like other guys when I was thinking of it. You’d never want to objectify two girls that way, especially not two of your friends.” She laughs again and Liam laughs with her, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“I guess I am like that, aren’t I?” He sighs, thinking about what Zayn’s said, running it through his head and going through different scenarios as fast as he can. “I’m sorry for shouting at you,” he says after a moment, “you didn’t deserve that, especially since you were going through all this, too. But I’m willing to try, if Haz is?” He looks around Zayn to see Harry, her eyes wide and one of her hands playing with her bottom lip like she does when she’s really thinking about something.

“I don’t see why not,” she finally says. “It might take a little bit to get used to being in a relationship with Liam, but I’ll definitely do my best if it makes you happy, Zayn.” Liam nods.

“I feel the same way. At least you’re both fit,” he says, smiling when Harry reaches around Zayn and shoves him.

“Way to ruin the moment, Liam.”

“What? It made Zayn smile! See, she’s not all sad and weepy anymore!” Harry looks at Zayn and sees that Liam’s right; Zayn’s smiling and wiping at her cheeks, wrapping her arms around both of their waists and pulling them impossibly closer.

“Can we cuddle?” she asks, and Harry and Liam both wordlessly get up and lie down on the bed, one on each side so Zayn can be in the middle. They get comfortable, Zayn on her back with Liam and Harry resting their heads on each of her shoulders, their hands twining together over Zayn’s stomach. Harry was right; it’s going to take a little while to get used to being in a relationship with her, not to mention her _and_ Zayn at the same time, but he knows it’s gonna work out in the end.

“Hey Liam?” Zayn asks, and Liam hums in answer. “You remember that first night when you were telling me how you lot all became friends?” He nods his head and she feels it against her shoulder. “You never told me how Haz joined the group.”

“That’s the best part!” Harry says. “I can’t believe you left me out!”

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Liam protests, and Zayn chimes in.

“Yeah, it was my fault anyway. I was cold so Liam gave me his hoodie and ended up almost stripping in the process and I was staring at his abs so I told him how fit I thought he was. Then he told me how fit he thought _I_ was, and I may have told him that I’d been thinking naughty things when you showed me his picture, Haz.” She giggles at the end, and Liam is glad he doesn’t have to stop hearing that sound any time soon. Harry laughs a little, too, and Liam makes a noise of protest.

“You never did tell me what those naughty thoughts were. I think, as your soon-to-be-boyfriend, I have a right to know.”

“Hey!” Harry says, leaning up on an elbow to look Liam straight in the face. “We’re supposed to be talking about how I became your very best friend here, not all the dirty thoughts Zayn’s been thinking about you since she first saw you.”

Liam leans up on an elbow, too, his face closer to Harry’s than it ever has been. “You’re telling me that you’ve not had any dirty thoughts about me before?” He hears Harry gulp, and Zayn must hear it, too, because she starts laughing.

“Oh, Haz, you’re gonna _have_ to share those!” she says between laughs. “We can take notes and compare.” Harry shoves at Zayn’s shoulder but leans down and kisses her softly, and Liam almost turns away but then he remembers that he’s a part of this, too, and he can look if he wants to.

“I’ll share, but only after Liam tells you how I joined the group.” Liam and Zayn both roll their eyes.

“Fine,” they say in unison, then laugh at each other. Harry waits impatiently for Liam to start the story.

“Well I said that I came in because Niall was playing the guitar outside one day and I thought he was a sick player, yeah?” Zayn nods. “Well I wasn’t the only one, because he ended up getting a gig at the bar we went to that first night? Which is how he knows the staff there so well, because he’s played a couple gigs there. Anyway, him and me and Lou all went to the bar that night, and Harry here was there, too. She was drunk off her arse and kept yelling out songs for Niall to play, and he was so polite about it, kept saying _“I don’t know that one, love, sorry”_ ,” he says in his best Irish accent. Well, the best one he can do when he’s as drunk as he is. “About halfway through the set Haz stopped yelling, and I for one was a little worried about her so I kept an eye on her to make sure she was okay, and –”

“You never told me that,” Harry interrupts, and Liam smiles and nods, a little bashfully.

“Yeah,” he says, quieter now. “I didn’t know why I was so worried at the time, but I kept looking around to make sure you weren’t passed out somewhere. I dunno, there was just something about you…” he trails off and shrugs.

“I know what it was,” Zayn says, and before Liam can ask, he sees the smirk on her face as she continues. “You thought she was fit.”

That makes Harry laugh, loudly, too loud for their close proximity to one another. Liam and Zayn both jump and Harry puts a hand over her mouth, mumbling out an apology as she tries to calm her giggles.

“Okay, maybe I thought she was fit, but that’s not the _only_ reason I wanted to make sure she was okay. Anyway,” he continues as if he were never interrupted (or laughed at), “halfway through Niall’s set Haz stopped yelling, so I looked around and saw that she was sitting at the bar, looking like she was about to pass out, and some guy was trying to chat her up, so I went over and punched him in the face.”

“You did not!” Zayn exclaims, and Harry shakes her head.

“He did not.”

“That’s true. I didn’t punch him in the face, but I did walk up and pretend to be her boyfriend and _threatened_ to punch him in the face if he didn’t get his hands off her.”

“Always the gentleman, our Liam,” Harry says, patting his hand. “He stayed with me and made me drink, like, ten glasses of water before calling me a cab and riding home with me to make sure I got home safe.”

“Niall and Louis weren’t too happy about me leaving before Niall was done, but they understood once I explained. They said they wouldn’t’ve done that themselves, but they understood why I did it. I left my number on Haz’s bedside table with a note that said to text me when she woke up in the morning and let me know she was okay. And we’ve been friends ever since!”

“Yeah, except Lou and Niall thought we were dating at the beginning.”

“I can’t blame them,” Zayn says, “if I were in either of your shoes, I’d want to date the other person.”

“Well you’re lucky enough to get to date us both,” Harry says, snuggling up to Zayn’s chest, Liam doing the same, the three of them falling asleep together not long after.

***

It takes a while for the three of them to get used to being in a relationship with each other. Harry and Liam both find it easy to do relationship type things with Zayn, but it's with each other that's proving to be difficult. Sure, Liam's thought about how fit Harry is before, and Harry's done the same for Liam, but they've never really thought about each other in any way more than just good friends. It's not that they're doing it on purpose; they know that Zayn wants both of them and are more than willing to make it work for her, but it's just...difficult.

They bring this up to Zayn one night a few weeks after they decided to try this thing out, after they get back from spending Christmas with their respective families (which was better than expected for all involved), and Zayn almost immediately tells them what to do.

“Go on a date,” she says, and, at the faces they give her, “It's fine! I wouldn't be suggesting it if I didn't want it to happen. I know you're both working hard to make this thing work for me because you both want me to be happy, and I really appreciate that, but I can tell you're having trouble with it. So go on a date. Go have dinner and watch a movie or something. Get to know each other again, but this time in a romantic way.” They're both still staring at her. “Go! Don't make me threaten to not kiss either of you until you do it.” They agree then, because Zayn has made that threat before, and they know she'll go through with it if she has to.

They make a date for the next Friday, the first Friday of the new semester, Harry choosing mini golf out of the options given to her. They offer to take Zayn along, but she points out that that defeats the purpose of them going out together, just the two of them, and says that she can stay home and keep the couch warm for them. She needs to finish the season of Skins she's on, anyway.

So, on Friday, after they're both done with their classes, Liam changes into an acceptable date outfit (he just grabs a coat to wear over his hoodie and replaces his snapback with the beanie Harry got him for his birthday) and walks over to Harry's dorm, having to wait on someone to let him in. She lives on the top floor, and Liam considers taking the stairs, but he doesn't want to get all sweaty before their date, especially with as bundled as he is against the January cold, so he takes the elevator and tries not to feel lazy about it.

When Liam gets to Harry's door, he knocks, and it takes her a minute to open it and invite him inside.

“Sorry,” she says, trying to tame her hair and put on a shirt at the same time. “My class ran over and I had to rush coming back, so I'm not quite ready yet.” Liam smiles at how flustered she is.

“It's fine, Haz. I'll just sit here and wait.” He takes the few steps over to Harry's bed and sits on the edge of it, a fond smile on his face as he watches her get ready for their date. She doesn't say anything until she notices him staring at her while she applies her eyeliner in the mirror.

“I can't focus with you staring at me, Liam,” she says, never stopping her process as she does so.

“Sorry,” he says, looking down at his lap and blushing. “I've just always been fascinated with how you girls can make stuff like that look so easy.” He's not lying; he'd sit on the counter as his sisters got ready for their dates, and he never could understand how they used things like eyeliner and mascara without poking themselves in the eye. He knows he definitely would if he tried; maybe it's just a thing girls know how to do.

“You can look now,” he hears Harry say, and she's looking at him through her mirror, a smirk on her face. She's applying mascara now, and, again, Liam doesn't know how she does it without poking her eye. He watches as she fluffs her hair, tying a scarf around her head to keep her hair out of her face. She flits around the room a few more times, tossing a few things into her bag as she goes, finally putting on her shoes and making her way over to the door.

“Ready to go?” she asks Liam, and he holds back the retort he was about to say.

“Yeah,” he says instead, walking out and waiting for Harry to grab her coat and lock her door before making their way out of the building and to the mini golf place. It's too far to walk, so they take Harry's car, singing way too loudly along with the radio the whole way there.

It doesn't take them long to get set up at the mini golf place; it's not as busy as they thought it was going to be on a Friday night, but it's cold out (though a few degrees warmer than usual) and probably nobody in their right mind would be out in it. They pay for their game and get their putters and balls, then make their way to the first hole. It's at the top of the course, so they have to go up a flight of stairs, but it's not that bad.

They make their way through all eighteen holes, Liam offering to help Harry when he sees that he's winning by a large margin, then messing up on purpose when she refuses his help. They end up tied, and it's a miracle that they even got through all eighteen holes without getting kicked out; Harry brings out the worst in Liam and, though he loves it, it gets him into a fair amount of trouble (she's always in trouble right beside him, though, so it's not as bad as being in trouble alone). Their first warning was at hole six, for being too loud, but they were the only people on the entire course except for a family a few holes ahead of them and an older couple right behind them, and they were in a tunnel, so the sound was magnified, and the warning had no grounds. The second time was at hole eleven, when the couple behind them kept giving them mean looks every time they so much as laughed or stood too close, so they did what anyone in that situation would do and pretended to whisper naughty things in each other's ears while touching each other far more than necessary. They almost got at third warning at hole seventeen for Liam crawling up under the windmill and very nearly getting stuck, but the attendant must have seen that they were almost done and didn't want to waste his time shouting if it meant they would be off his course quicker.

They're still laughing as they turn in their putters and make their way to Harry's car, and they keep laughing on and off all the way to Zayn's flat, going through the events of the night and how mad the attendant and the couple behind them had gotten by the end of the course.

They're still laughing as they climb the steps up to Zayn's flat, having agreed to go there after their date and let her know how it went. They open the door and walk in, and she's settled on the couch, curled up under a blanket and watching Skins, just as she'd said she would be. They say their hello's as they take off their coats and hang them by Zayn's front door, taking off their shoes and leaving them there as well.

“So,” she says, sitting up and making room for the two of them, “how'd it go?”

“Oh, it was so fun, Zayn! You should come with us next time,” Harry says, sitting in the middle of the couch and snuggling up to Zayn, leaving room for Liam to sit at the opposite end from Zayn and leaning back onto his chest when he does so.

Zayn chuckles a little at Harry's comment. “Maybe I will next time, love.” She wriggles around to get comfortable in the now much smaller space, sitting with her back against the arm of the couch and her knees bent up, situating her feet between Harry's. Harry is sitting the same way Zayn is, but mirrored, and instead of the arm of the couch, she's sitting against Liam. Zayn offers Harry half of her blanket, and Harry accepts. “So you had fun. Did anything else happen?” She uses a tone when she asks, like a mom would ask her daughter after her first date with the boy she fancies. Which, this kind of is, except without the mom part. That'd be weird.

“What do you mean _anything else_?” Liam asks, “We didn't snog in the tunnel or anything.”

Zayn rolls her eyes. “I mean in terms of your relationship,” she says, and Liam immediately remembers that he'd forgotten to try and be more than Harry's friend.

“I dunno,” Harry says, turning her head to look up at Liam, still settled back against his chest. “I was having too much fun to think about that, what about you, Liam?” He hums and nods in agreement.

“I guess we're gonna have to do something dead boring for our next date,” he says, and Harry gasps.

“Are you just _assuming_ I'm going to let you take me on a second date?” she asks, mock offended. “What kind of girl do you take me for?” Liam is about to answer when Zayn beats him to it.

“A fit one who I'd definitely snog in the mini golf tunnel if we went together.” Harry blushes at that, and Liam only blushes a little bit when Zayn leans forward to kiss Harry, staying there for a few moments before leaning up and kissing him, too. Kissing is the farthest they've gone so far, and Liam doesn't think he's ever going to get tired of it, both Zayn and Harry kissing him and watching them kiss each other. Zayn kisses Harry and Liam far more often than they kiss each other, but they're still trying to get past the relationship hurdle. Liam knows they all three probably won't be able to keep their hands off each other once he and Harry get there, though, so maybe it's better for it to be this way while they take it slow with the physical stuff.

Zayn leans back against the arm of the couch again, looking more relaxed, probably from the kisses. “I figured it wouldn't happen after just one date, but, like you said, Liam, you can always go on another one.”

So they do. They go on three more, actually, and, while they've become closer as friends, that spark of romance hasn't yet caught between them. They let Zayn know this one night while they're all cuddling on the couch and watching a movie (Captain America; Harry was out-voted).

“I feel really bad about it, and I know Haz does, too,” Liam says after Harry brings it up. “We both really want this to work, but we don't want to make you wait for us to develop feelings for each other, especially since it's been this long already and nothing has happened yet.” Zayn nods, looking a little sad about it, but understanding still.

She sighs. “I really do appreciate you trying for me, and it does suck that it didn't work out like we wanted it to, but maybe if you stop trying, it'll happen without you knowing it, yeah?” She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. “So what does this mean for the three of us?” she asks, softly, like she's afraid to hear the answer.

“It can mean whatever you want it to mean,” Liam says, reaching out to rest a hand on the closest body part of Zayn's to him, which happens to be her knee. “Haz and I would both like to continue this relationship, but if you want it to be all-or-nothing, we'll deal with whatever that may mean for us.”

“Yeah,” Harry says, pulling Zayn in to her. Harry and Liam are sitting at opposite ends of the couch, Zayn between them, their limbs all tangled together. “Liam and I still want to be with you, so we will be, if that's what you want, too. I'll be your girlfriend and he'll be your boyfriend, and we can all still do stuff together, but he and I just won't do as much physical stuff until we're comfortable with it.” Liam nods, having discussed this very thing the night before with Harry, on their way back from their fourth failed date.

Zayn can see that Harry and Liam both look a little sad, so she sits up and pulls them both in to her. “I do want us to stay together, more than anything. I knew I was asking a lot of you when I first asked you to try to be with me, and even more so when I suggested you try working on your relationship. If I still get to have both of you, I'll gladly accept it without complaint.” She laughs a little at the end, and Harry and Liam know it's all going to be alright.

***

It works. The three of them spend time all together and separately and with Niall and Louis together and separately and it's good. They'd sat down the night that they'd agreed to be HarryandZayn and LiamandZayn and discussed guidelines for their relationship, agreeing to let everyone know if there's any doubts or uncertainty as soon as possible after it comes up. It's already difficult to navigate a three-person relationship, and any additional tension would only make it harder.

They'd also discussed how to approach the physical aspect of their relationship, as both Liam and Harry are more than willing to be physical with Zayn, and she with them, but not so much with each other. They all agree that it's okay for two of them to be together without the third person being present (most likely Zayn and Harry without Liam or Zayn and Liam without Harry), but a notification text would be appreciated, just so the third party knows what they might be walking in on should they arrive in the middle of it.

Things start out slowly, a wandering hand here and there while they watch movies together, a cheeky pinch or grab when one of them walks by another, a little bit of both during heated snogging sessions. They spend a good deal of time at Zayn's flat, Harry and Liam both citing that it's because they both live on campus and like to get away from it for a little while from time to time. They also end up spending the night more often than not, the three of them always ending up sprawled over each other in Zayn's bed in the mornings, even when they'd fallen asleep on the couch the night before (Zayn and Harry both suspect Liam to be the cause of this).

It's one of these mornings that Liam wakes with a start, but isn't sure why. He thinks it may be the dream he was having, but the warm fingertips exploring his torso and making their way under the waistband of his pants tell him otherwise. He relaxes into the touch, closing his eyes and letting whoever it is take her time, and as Liam plays a game with himself to try an figure out which of his girlfriends is touching him, he realizes he doesn't care. It could be Zayn, or Harry, but he's not bothered one way or the other, and isn't really wanting it to be one of them instead of the other.

When he finally looks down to where the hand is now running along his chest, he sees that it's Zayn's left hand, the intricate mandala shifting as her hand moves over the ridges of his muscles. She must realize he's awake, then, because he feels her lips press against his shoulder where she's spooned up behind him, followed by a soft “morning.” He grins when he hears the smile in her voice.

Her hand starts to wander again, not really doing anything in particular, but if she keeps teasing the waistband of his pants, he's gonna roll over and do something about it.

It turns out he doesn't have to; the second he has that thought, her fingers slip into his pants, feeling around for a moment before wrapping around him. He groans, melting back into her a bit as she starts stroking him, his morning wood causing him to already be half hard when she started.

He rolls on his back once she's gotten him fully hard, wanting her to be able to have more options in terms of pleasuring him. He's a generous lover, really.

Once he's on his back, Zayn moves so she's half laying on him, pulling his pants down and out of the way before starting back stroking him again.

If Liam's brain was working in any sort of capacity right now, he'd be concerned about doing this _right next to Harry_ , worrying that she'd feel left out, but it isn't working so he's not thinking any of that.

Even though Zayn's using her left hand, she's doing a great job, twisting her wrist just like he likes, swiping her thumb over the head every so often, occasionally rubbing the pad of her thumb against the sensitive underside of the head. Every time she does that, his hips twitch. He loves it.

Zayn keeps a steady pace the whole time, not speeding up or slowing down at any point, and Liam comes with a grunt, clenching the sheets in his fists from both the strength of his orgasm and his effort to keep quiet. Zayn gets up and goes to the bathroom for something to clean him off with, but not before kissing him softly and getting the cum off her hand with her tongue. She's gonna be the death of him.

After Zayn hands Liam the towel to clean himself off, she walks around to the other side of the bed and kneels onto the floor so her face is level with Harry's. She runs her fingers through Harry's messy bedhead, gently so as not to get her fingers caught in snags. She waits until Harry starts stirring to kiss her, and Liam can't hear it from where he is, but he thinks she's telling her good morning. Liam tosses the towel over the edge of the bed and rolls closer to Harry, spooning up behind her and kissing her shoulder just as Zayn had done to him.

“You're awake, too?” Harry asks through a yawn, turning her head towards Liam for a kiss. She's so cute when she's sleepy that he doesn't even mind the face full of morning breath he gets before her kiss.

“Mmhmm,” he replies when she's turned back to face Zayn. “Zayn woke me up.”

Harry turns her head towards him again. “Was she snoring again? She's woken me up quite a few times with her snores.” Zayn and Liam both giggle at that, and Liam presses a kiss to Harry's cheek.

“No, it wasn't that. Zayn, why don't you tell her?” It takes Zayn a moment to respond, and Liam's worried he's overstepped somehow when she sighs.

“I woke him up with a handjob.” She has a guilty look on her face, but there's a smile underneath it, making it look more mischievous than anything.

“Without me?” Harry asks, sounding offended. “Where's my good morning handjob, then?” She's teasing, and Zayn knows it.

“Well I _was_ gonna go down on you after you woke up a little bit, but now I don't know if I want to.” Zayn stands and knees her way onto the bed, moving over Harry and squeezing herself into the middle of the Harry and Liam sandwich.

“Hey, that's not fair!” Harry says, turning to fully face the other two, a playful pout on her lips.

“Yeah,” Liam says, mirroring Harry's pout. “Why does she get your mouth when I only got your hand?” They both stare Zayn down until she cracks, huffing out a sigh before sitting up.

“Fine. I'll go down on you, Haz, and I'll blow Liam next time. Fair?” Of course Harry thinks it's fair, and Liam guesses he should, too, if he ever wants Zayn to touch him again. She can hold a grudge with the best of them.

Zayn gets under the duvet and shimmies down Harry's body, getting situated between her legs.

“Wait,” Harry says, lifting up the duvet so she can see Zayn's face. “I was thinking the other day, about sex, and how we haven't had, like, _sex_ sex yet, and, well. My birthday's coming up, and I was wondering if we could do it then? Like as a present, but for all of us?” She's biting her lip and flicking her gaze between Zayn and Liam, and after Zayn speaks her assent into Harry's thigh, and Liam into her temple, Zayn gets down to business and Harry comes with one hand in Zayn's hair and the other around the back of Liam's neck, moaning into his mouth as he kisses her.

***

Harry picks up her phone on the very last ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, babe,” Zayn says. The soft echo and noises around her tell Harry that she's driving, her phone attached to the dashboard and playing Harry's voice through the stereo speakers.

“Hey,” Harry says, tucking her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she tries to continue what she was doing before Zayn called. “Sorry, I'm a little busy at the moment, but I can talk.”

“Well if you're busy, I can just call back. I'm on my way to yours, anyway; was just calling to let you know I'd be there soon.” Shit. Harry'd forgotten all about Zayn coming over. They're supposed to be watching movies and relaxing and just having a girls' day, but Harry woke up super stressed for some reason, so she's baking. Baking usually helps her calm down, or figure out a problem, or give her something to focus on that's not everything happening around her.

She's been up for almost eight hours and has made and iced one cake with another in the oven, and she's currently mixing up batter for chocolate chip cookies.

“Yeah, okay. I'll, uh. I'll see you soon, then?” Harry hears the edge in her own voice and can hear Zayn frowning on the other end of the line.

“You alright babe?” she asks, and Harry sighs.

“Yeah, just. I'll tell you when you get here. It's nothing bad, I promise! Just...yeah.” Zayn says her goodbyes and lets Harry know she'll be at her room in less than five minutes. True to her word, Zayn's knocking on the door in three. Harry opens it, fully aware that she's covered in flour, cocoa, frosting, and all other kinds of things.

“What happened?” Zayn asks, toeing off her shoes and following Harry into the kitchen. Harry's dorm room is one of the fancier (and more expensive) ones, but she'd managed to get one in the building meant for culinary students, so she has her own kitchen just so she can stress bake whenever necessary.

“I don't know,” Harry says, dumping chocolate chips into her mixing bowl and folding them into the thick batter. “I woke up really stressed out and I have no idea over what, but I knew baking would fix it, so here I am, baking, and it hasn't fixed anything.” She slumps over the mixing bowl, loosening her grip on the spatula until her hands are hanging at her sides.

“So you bake when you're stressed?” Zayn asks after a moment, and Harry looks at her to see a bright look on her face.

“Yeah,” she replies. “What about it?”

“Nothing,” Zayn says, stepping up to Harry and opening her arms for a hug, insisting that she doesn't care about getting flour on her shirt before Harry steps up and wraps her arms around Zayn's middle. “Why do you do it?”

Harry shrugs. “Dunno. Never really thought about it. I guess it's something productive that I can share with people; I feel better when I make this stuff, and I like being able to share it with people and help them feel better, because it's hard to be sad with a plate of cake in your hand.” Zayn laughs softly at that, kissing the top of Harry's head before releasing her embrace and stepping back again.

“I completely understand that.” She turns around and hops up onto the only part of the counter that's clean, crossing her ankles as she dips her finger in the leftover cake frosting and licks it off. “I cook when I'm stressed or upset about something; my mum taught me how and it makes me feel like we're connected somehow when I do it, especially when I'm cooking for my friends or significant others.”

“The fastest way to a man's heart _is_ through his stomach,” Harry says, taking what looks like a tiny ice cream scoop and dipping it into the chocolate chip cookie mixture, dropping the scoops onto a nearby cookie sheet. Zayn marvels at the perfect half-spheres of dough on the sheet, thinks that the cookies must come out perfectly round this way, and wonders how she hadn't thought of it before.

“That's exactly what I told Li the first time he slept over. What?” Zayn asks at the look Harry gives her. “Had I not told you about that?”

Harry thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “I don't know, maybe you did and I've just forgotten. But tell me again, just in case.” Zayn recounts how she and Liam had stumbled back to her flat after the first night the five of them went out, how badly she'd wanted to kiss Liam but he wouldn't let her (to which Harry snorts and responds _typical Liam_ ), and how Liam fell asleep before his head even hit the pillow on her bed, so she'd had to undress him before changing out of her outfit and into her pajamas.

“I woke up before him and had a bit of a hangover so I made a fry up, and Liam walked in right as I was finishing up. He really liked it, so he asked if I cooked a lot and I said I'd learnt from my mum, because the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.” Harry nods, taking in everything Zayn's just told her as she finishes dropping the cookie balls onto the pan and puts it in the oven. She sets a timer and turns to face Zayn.

“So if I'm good at baking, and you're good at cooking, what does Liam need to be good at to round that out?”

“Eating,” Zayn giggles, and Harry joins in, because she's not wrong.

Harry never does figure out what had her so stressed that morning, but she and Zayn do end up eating most of the cookies and a good portion of the chocolate cake before calling it a night and falling asleep wrapped up in each other in Harry's bed.

***

“I'm just saying, what kind of birthday is it when the birthday person makes their own cake and doesn't want any presents? I've had parties without presents, and trust me, it's not fun.” Zayn and Harry have been over this with Liam a million and a half times, but he's still crying about it, even in the middle of dinner at Zayn's.

“Well tell me, Liam, what kind of birthday is it when the birthday person has asked for certain things because _it's their birthday_ , but doesn't get to have those things because their boyfriend is being an obtuse _arse_ about it?” Okay, maybe Harry could have said that a little nicer. And softer. And quieter.

Liam looks like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, and Zayn doesn't look much different. It registers that Harry just _shouted_ at Liam, and she immediately feels _awful_.

“Oh my God Li I'm so sorry for shouting I don't know what's wrong with me I've been in a bad mood the past couple of days because _nothing's_ gone right and I've just taken it all out on you I'm so _sorry_.” Harry rushes out an apology in one breath because she can't believe herself. She sits at the table for a few more seconds before quietly excusing herself and walking across the flat and into Zayn's bedroom, closing the door behind herself. Liam makes to stand up, but Zayn's hand on his arm stops him.

“Give her a minute. Something's gotta be up for her to get upset like that. She's not gonna want to talk about it right away. Here, help me clean up a bit, then we'll go check on her, yeah?” Liam nods in agreement, helping Zayn box up the leftovers and put them in the fridge, putting the food Harry hadn't finished in a box on its own, just in case she gets hungry later. They work together to wash the few dishes in the sink, and when they're done, Zayn takes a deep breath and lets it out before going to her bedroom door and knocking.

“Haz, babe? Can we come in? Or just one of us, if you'd rather.” Harry mumbles a response that sounds like they can both go in, so Zayn opens the door and steps in, Liam right behind her.

The sight that meets their eyes is a sad one; Harry's sitting on the side of Zayn's bed, head in her hands and elbows on her knees, and she's sniffling like she's been crying. Zayn tuts like a concerned mother before sitting down next to Harry and wrapping her arms around her shoulders in a side-hug. Liam, on the other hand, stays where he is, unsure of what to do in this situation. It reminds him of the night that Zayn told him and Harry that she wanted to be with both of them, how she'd been sniffling on the edge of somebody's bed on the top floor of the frat house, and he and Harry didn't know how to help. This is the same feeling, except Liam's alone this time, because Zayn apparently knows what she's doing.

Just as Liam thinks that maybe the girls will do better without him in the room, Harry lifts her face and looks at Liam. His heart instantly clenches at the sight; the skin around her eyes is puffy and red, her eyes themselves bloodshot and watery. Her nose is red from where she'd been wiping at it with tissues, and her chin is still wobbling a bit. She uses what's probably the last of her energy to reach her arms out towards him, and that's what finally makes him move.

“Oh, love,” he says, stepping over to the bed as Harry stands, her arms still out towards him, her hands clenching into fists where they come to rest on his back, his touch apparently having stirred up more emotions inside of her because she's crying again, sobbing into his shoulder. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know if anything will help, so her just rubs her back and lets her cry, shushing her every so often.

It takes a couple minutes, but she finally calms down enough to let go of Liam, apologizing for getting snot all over his shirt.

“It'll come out in the wash, love,” he assures her, sitting down next to her after she sits back down.

Zayn and Liam let Harry take her time composing herself, waiting patiently until she clears her throat.

“First off, I wanna say sorry, Li, for calling you an obtuse arse. And I wanna apologize to Zayn, too, for ruining her nice dinner that she worked hard on - ” Her voice tightens and cracks before she takes a deep breath, holding it in for a second before letting it out in a shaky exhale and wiping at the new tears that had come up. “I'm sorry I'm getting so upset, I just.” She pauses, tossing her hands about and looking up towards the ceiling. “I think I've figured out why I've been in a bad mood, and Zayn why I was so stressed the other day when you came over...” She pauses again, trying not to let any more stupid tears fall.

“A few days ago, maybe a week? It was after the day Zayn woke us up with sex. Anyway, I was thinking about how nice it's gonna be over the summer, when we don't have classes to worry about and all the time in the world to spend together, but then all the worries came in, you know how I worry about stuff.” Liam and Zayn both nod and make noises of agreement before Harry continues. “First I was wondering where we'd live, if Zayn would even let two extra people stay in her flat for months at a time, then I remembered that Li's graduating at the end of this semester, and Zayn next year, and if you both go back home or get jobs somewhere else, I'll be here all by myself and I love you both so much that I don't think I'd be able to do that.” She puts her head back in her hands, then mumbles, “I know I wouldn't be able to do it.”

Zayn and Liam give each other looks over Harry's head, both because they hadn't thought about all that, and because Harry just said she loves them. It's not a big _deal_ ; they all know how they feel about each other, more or less, and they all knew that love was a possibility from the start and that it's definitely here now, but none of them have said it yet. Well, until Harry just did.

“I don't know if I can speak for Liam, though I'm pretty sure he'll agree with me, but I love you too, Haz.” She lowers her voice before leaning in and conspiratorially whispering, “And I love Liam, but it's not about him right now. He can wait.” That makes Harry laugh a little, and Liam doesn't even care that Zayn's probably just said something making fun of him.

“Zayn's right, Haz. I love you too. And I love her, and I'm sure what she just told you was that she loves me. At least, I hope it was.” Liam pauses to act unsure, but Zayn can see right through it. “We both love you and you love us and we all love each other. We'll figure it all out. I promise.” He kisses the side of her head and rubs her back some more, feeling her relax a bit at his promise, but knowing that they're going to have to have an Actual Discussion about this soon. But for now, Zayn's pulling back the duvet and helping Harry get out of her jeans before doing so herself and helping Harry into the bed. She lets Harry get comfortable before sliding under the duvet herself, then asks Liam if he's going to join them or if he's just gonna be creepy and watch them sleep. So he strips down to his pants and snuggles in on the other side of Harry from Zayn, knowing it's going to take the two of them a while to fall asleep. After a while, he starts focusing on Harry's slow, deep breathing from where she'd conked out not long after getting comfortable. He doesn't realize he's fallen asleep until he wakes up an hour later, an arm around Harry's waist and his legs tangled up with both Harry's and Zayn's, and he realizes that he wants this, wants it to keep happening for a long time, and he vows to himself that he's going to make everything work out; if not for Harry then for himself, because he doesn't think he'd be able to do anything without Harry and Zayn by his side, either.

***

Harry's birthday comes up fast, only a few days after she'd broken down at dinner (which she _finally_ stopped apologizing for when Zayn threatened to revoke her kissing privileges), and everyone's excited. They're having her party at the bar they always go to, mostly because everyone they invited knows where it is and can come and go as they please. They've set a three-hour window for people to come chat with Harry and tell her happy birthday and give her their gifts, if they've gotten her one, but there's no obligation for them to stay if they don't want to. It is a weeknight, after all, and people have classes in the morning. Harry completely understands, having always been an advocate for 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night, as sleep helps the body heal and restore itself for the next day.

The time they spend at the bar is nice; Harry gets to see some of her friends she hasn't seen in a while, and, once Louis and Niall get there (late, probably because of Louis), the five of them all get to catch up, it having been almost a month since the last time they'd all been in the same place at once. Niall has started playing small shows at one of the bars across town, and Louis has more new pictures of Freddie than he ever has because Freddie decided to help Louis make his breakfast one day and stuck his tiny baby hands into the jam jar and spread it all over himself and the counter. Louis was mad for a second before he took out his phone and started snapping photos.

After the three hours have passed, the five of them all go back to Zayn's place to celebrate comfortably, meaning that Zayn and Harry change into sweatpants and “de-glam” while the boys pick a movie to watch.

“Hey,” Louis says from his spot beside Liam on the couch, “since it's Haz's birthday are you gonna, you know?” For someone who has literally sired a child, Louis is the worst when it comes to talking about sex. He's always got to make it unnecessarily awkward and waggle his eyebrows, like he's doing to Liam now.

“Leave him alone, Lou,” Niall says, shoving at Louis's knee from where he's looking through DVDs on the floor. “He hasn't told us about their sex life so far, so it's a safe bet he's not gonna tell you now.” Louis huffs and looks like he's about to whinge about it, but Niall gives him a look and he just crosses his arms and slumps back into the couch.

“Well, um. About that,” Liam starts, and he can already feel his cheeks going pink. “We haven't actually...yet. It never felt like the right time and Haz asked a couple weeks ago if we could save it for her birthday so that's what we did.” Louis and Niall don't have time to comment as Zayn and Harry emerge from Zayn's room right then. Harry's cheeks are pink, which could easily be passed off as her scrubbing too hard as she took off her makeup, but Liam knows that flush. He's seen it close up between heated kisses and while looking up at her as he works his mouth between her legs; she's turned on, which is good for the events transpiring later, but he idly wonders what Zayn had done to get her this turned on this quick, especially since she has to wait at least two hours until Louis and Niall leave to do anything about it.

Harry comes over to sit next to Liam, on the opposite side of Louis, tucking her legs to one side as she leans into Liam, resting her head on his shoulder when he moves his arm out of the way. “You okay?” he asks, and Harry nods.

“Yeah,” she says, and Liam knows that look in her eyes and that tone in her voice. He's going to get to the bottom of it before the movie is over.

Louis and Niall finally decide on Bridesmaids, and everyone gets settled as Louis puts it in the DVD player. Zayn, Liam, and Harry are on the couch with Liam in the middle, his arms wrapped around the girls' shoulders as they cuddle into his chest, and Niall and Louis are in the two armchairs on either side of the coffee table.

Liam waits until maybe 20 minutes into the movie to try to figure out what's up with Harry. “Zayn?” he asks softly, receiving a hum in answer. “What did you do to Harry earlier in your room?” Zayn moves back a bit so she can look Liam in the eye, reading his face for any flickers of emotion that may go across it.

“Nothing,” she says, but Liam gives her a pointed look. She rolls her eyes and snuggles back into his chest. “I just warmed her up a little, helped her calm down a bit for later.”

Based on the way Harry's grip on his thigh keeps going tight and loose, Liam isn't sure if he wants to know how Zayn did that.

“But what did you _do_?” Okay, his curiosity got the best of him.

Zayn lifts her head back up from his chest and it's her turn to give him a pointed look. “I said don't worry about it, alright? You'll find out soon enough.” Liam goes to protest but the heat in Zayn's eyes deepens and he backs off.

One hour and 45 minutes later, Liam's glad he'd seen the movie before because he wouldn't be able to tell anyone what happened had he not already known. He couldn't stop thinking about Zayn and Harry together, his mind rolling through the endless possibilities of what it was that they did to get Harry so turned on. And _handsy, God_ ; Liam had had to move her hand multiple times during the movie because it was getting too close to his dick. He and the girls show Niall and Louis out, Louis shooting Liam a wink and a gesture at his own crotch when only Liam is looking, to make fun of his obvious boner, and when the front door closes, it's only the three of them left, all anticipating what comes next.

Harry wastes no time in stepping up to Liam and wrapping her arms around the back of his neck, jumping up to wrap her legs around his hips before kissing him. Luckily, he was paying attention, settling his hands under her bum to keep her from falling as he slowly walks towards Zayn's bedroom, never breaking the kiss but occasionally opening an eye so he doesn't bump into or fall over anything.

Once they're in Zayn's room, Harry unwraps her legs and detaches herself from Liam, moving to Zayn next. She just pushes Zayn up against the door, and if Liam didn't know any better, he'd say Harry was on some sort of sex drug or had sex dust sprinkled on her or something. He's never seen her like this, so hungry for it, but he likes how she's just going for everything she wants.

Liam watches the girls together for a minute, moving a hand down to palm himself before he notices that Harry and Zayn are whispering about something. Harry pulls back and turns to Liam, walking, no, _sauntering_ over to him, getting super close but only touching him where her hands rest on his shoulders.

“Zayn tells me you want to know what she did to me before the movie,” she says, her voice low and so turned on. Liam can only nod a little pathetically. “I was thinking we could show you.” Liam gasps and has to take a second to calm himself because if he doesn't, this whole night is going to be over way too quickly.

“O-okay,” he says, definitely _not_ stuttering, thanks, and letting Harry move him backwards by pushing gently at his shoulders. He feels the backs of his knees hit something and his brow furrows.

“Sit,” Harry says, pressing down on the tops of his shoulders now, and a glance behind himself tells Liam that he's supposed to sit in Zayn's desk chair. “Stay.” Liam nods at Harry's order and watches as she goes back over to Zayn, her back still against the door. Liam can tell that he'll have a good view from here, but that's all he'll have; Zayn's desk is just far enough away from the bed that he won't be able to reach out and touch either of the girls if that's where they end up.

They do end up there, Zayn taking Harry's hand after a few more kisses and leading her over to the bed. “Just like before, love,” Zayn says, and Harry nods, taking Zayn's face in her hands and kissing her one last time before laying back, her legs spread wide.

Liam knows what's about to happen when Zayn gets on her knees between Harry's legs, and he can't help but let out a noise that's definitely not a whimper. Zayn turns her head to look at him, her fingers hooked into the waistband of Harry's shorts, and she smirks at him as she pulls Harry's shorts down to reveal...nothing. She's not wearing pants, and when Zayn throws the shorts towards Liam, he sees a sizeable dark spot where the fabric had been pressed up against her wet cunt. If he were desperate for a taste, he'd probably put them in his mouth, but he knows he'll get one at some point tonight. He hopes.

He lets the shorts fall into his lap as he watches Zayn slide onto her belly, situating Harry's legs over her shoulders before wrapping her arms around each of Harry's thighs, her hands coming to rest on the insides of them.

And this, this Liam has seen before. He's never been exiled to the desk chair, but he has sat back and just watched while Zayn and Harry have gone down on each other. It's always so hot, but not in the gross just-because-it's-two-girls way; more in the my-two-girlfriends-are-making-each-other-feel-good-and-they're-also-both-super-gorgeous-while-doing-it way. So, because he's seen it before, and because he's had Zayn go down on him multiple times, he knows her tricks and zones out a little bit because he knows this will all end sooner than planned if he pays close attention.

He focuses back in when he hears his name, but not called out like one of the girls is trying to get his attention. Zayn is talking to Harry from between her legs, staying close enough that he knows it's driving Harry mad. She's saying something about Liam fucking Harry, and Harry's nodding her head, almost thrashing it about, before Zayn's mouth is back on her.

Harry's close now, Liam knows, from the way her eyes are squeezed shut and her hands are holding on to Zayn's hair for dear life and her hips are basically humping Zayn's face. “Zayn, Zee, baby, I'm so close, fuck, please, please can I come?” Liam's a bit taken aback by Harry asking, but even more so when he hears Zayn's answer.

“No.” Harry whines pitifully as Zayn eases Harry's hands out of her hair and sits up on her knees, smirking in Liam's direction and wiping at her mouth. She gets off the bed and walks towards Liam, holding out a hand to lead him to the bed. “That's what I did to her, Li. That's what got her so worked up. I got her so close to coming, just one more second and she would have been done, then I stopped. Told her she couldn't come. That she had to wait for you because birthday sex isn't fair when not everyone's involved, right Haz?” At Zayn's question, Liam looks down at Harry's face and she nods.

“Yeah,” she says, still breathing hard. “Had to...wait. Wait for you, for you to fuck me. For my birthday. Because we agreed on it.” Liam is so endeared by her (for some reason that he can't quite place his finger on) so he leans down and kisses her full on the mouth. It's rough from the start, deep and passionate with Liam trying to put everything he feels for her into it.

Harry breaks it a few moments later. “Fuck, Li, want you so bad. I need you inside me right now. Please,” she adds as almost an afterthought. Liam looks into her eyes for another second and pets her hair a bit before kneeing up onto the bed.

“How do you want me, Haz?” he asks, and her brow furrows in confusion. “It's _your_ birthday, after all. Tell me what to do and I'll do it.” Harry considers that for a second before nodding.

“Well, naked, preferably.” Liam looks down and remembers that he's still full clothed, so he steps off of the bed and strips as fast as he ever has before getting back onto the mattress. Harry's pouting.

“I'll strip for you another time, babe. Watching Zayn eat you out was just so hot that I can't wait to get inside that pretty little cunt of yours.” Harry takes a shuddery deep breath before resting a hand on her forehead and gathering herself.

“O-okay. How about you on top of me and Zee behind me, like, my head in her lap?” Harry looks between the two of them and they both nod, assuming that position. Liam keeps himself up on his hands and knees, not wanting his dick to accidentally touch something and get too excited and end it all right now. He lowers his head to kiss her again, this time moving down to her neck and trying his best to leave as many love bites as he can while he's there.

Once he's satisfied with the state of Harry's neck, he moves past her chest and tummy to her hips, kissing where her hip bones jut out just a bit. He also squeezes at her love handles, never passing up an offer to give them some extra attention. As he moves even lower now, Harry realizes what he's doing and makes a desperate noise in the back of her throat.

“Don't worry, love, I'm not gonna be here long. Just wanna get a taste. Zayn made it nice and wet for me, didn't she, Haz? Do you think she did good enough to get my cock?” Harry nods wildly again, and a glance up to Zayn's face tells Liam that she's not unaffected by his words, either. Her mouth has fallen open but her eyes are dark and hot, and he wishes her birthday hadn't already passed, or that they had done something like this for it, because he really doesn't want to wait almost another year to worship Zayn's body and speak to her like he is Harry now. Of course, if she wants him to, he can fuck her like this in the morning. He definitely wouldn't mind.

“Okay, baby. Maybe I'll fuck her next, yeah? Let you watch and see how good she takes it, just like she's about to do for you.” Harry gasps then, both at Liam's statement and at how his tongue slips between her folds, tasting all of her wetness. He comes up for breath a few moments later.

“Zee, you wanna let her come on my tongue or wait for my cock?” Zayn pretends to consider it.

“Hmm...she can come on your tongue. Already been denied orgasm twice tonight, and she's been real good about it.” She leans down and kisses Harry's forehead as Liam gets back to work between her legs. “Go ahead, babe, come on his tongue. You'll be nice and wet for his cock, you're gonna take it so good, baby. It's gonna feel so good inside you, I bet. Come on, Haz. Come for us.” Harry does, and does loudly. Zayn's glad her neighbors on this side moved out a few weeks ago. They complained (more than once) about Zayn singing too loudly in her shower; they would _definitely_ be able to hear this.

Harry rides out her orgasm and pulls Liam away when she gets too sensitive. She wants him inside her, like, five minutes ago, and she's in the process of pulling his shoulders up and trying to get him in place when he rests his hands on top of hers, chuckling.

“Slow down, Haz. There's no rush. Just gotta get the essentials first. Zayn?” he asks, and she rifles through her bedside table drawer for lube and a condom, handing them both to Liam with a kiss after she finds them.

“You taste even better off Li's lips, babe,” she says to Harry, who smiles at her.

Liam makes quick work of rolling on the condom and slicking up with a bit of lube, not wanting to hurt Harry. He doesn't know when she last got laid or fucked with anything other than her own fingers, and he's not exactly _small_ , so it's better for her to be too wet than not wet enough. He fucks her with two fingers for a bit, one having gone in so easily because of how wet she is, then adds a third just to make sure she's stretched enough.

It's Heaven for both of them when he gets in position and starts pushing in. They both gasp out a moan when he gets the head of his cock inside her, and they don't stop until he's all the way in. He has to stop for a second so he doesn't come immediately, but then starts up a steady pace after a couple of slow test-thrusts.

A few minutes later, he starts talking again. “How many times you do you think you can come on my cock, hmm? It might only be once tonight; your pussy feels so good around me, hot and tight and wet. But next time, maybe Zayn and I should play with you a bit, wait until you're begging, until you absolutely can't _stand it_ anymore. Would you like that?” Harry's only response is to moan, so he takes that as a yes.

“Maybe we can take it higher than that. Not anytime soon, but maybe the next time we're apart, we can tell you that you can't touch yourself for so many days, wait until one of us is with you to get off. Do you think you'd like that, sweetheart?” Harry nods and tightens around Liam's cock. “Mmm, your pretty pussy says you do. What about if we let you touch yourself but not come? What about that?” Harry tightens around him again, throwing her head back and letting out a loud moan.

“ _Fuuuuuck_ , Liam! Right there, don't stop, don't you dare fucking stop, faster, baby, please! I need it, I need you inside of me, telling me what to do, when to come, _fuck_ I really like that. You and Zayn both. Fuck, just have your way with me, take control so I don't have to think, just listen to you,” she continues but it's mostly incoherent babbling with a few 'fuck's and 'Liam's thrown in.

Harry's pussy keeps getting tighter and tighter, and Liam knows she's so close, and he's right there with her. He rests his elbows on either side of her head, resting their foreheads together as he looks into her eyes and deepens his thrusts, her hands falling to his bum to hold on tight.

“I'm close, baby. Do you want me to come inside you or somewhere else?” Liam isn't expecting Harry's eyes to shoot open and her hands to go to his hips and slow his thrusts.

“What, baby, what's wrong?” Zayn asks, and Harry's eyes are still wide, almost frantic.

“You can't come yet!” she says, looking between Liam and Zayn. “You've still got to fuck Zayn!” Liam almost asks what she's talking about, then remembers what he'd said earlier. He leans down and kisses her softly, rubbing a thumb across her cheekbone. He's about to ask Zayn if she would mind waiting until morning but she speaks first.

“It's okay, Haz. I can wait until morning. This is your day, your night, one of your presents from us for your birthday. You go ahead and make him come, sweetheart. I can wait, I promise.” She leans down and kisses Harry's forehead then, and that seems to be enough to convince Harry to keep going. She looks up at Liam with a sheepish smile, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth.

“Sorry, Li. Just wanted it to be fair.” She has a soft look on her face when she moves her hands back around to Liam's bum, pulling him in to her and groaning at the feeling. It takes them a minute to get back into their previous rhythm, but once they get there, it's not long before both of them are coming. Harry goes first.

“Liam, Li, _fuck_ , I'm gonna come. Please, can I? Can I please come on your cock, baby?” Liam groans at Harry asking permission again .

“Yeah, baby, come on, come for me. I wanna feel you get tighter and wetter around me, feel so good, you're gonna make me come, baby.” Harry lets go at Liam's permission and has to drag Zayn down to kiss her so she doesn't wake up the whole building with how loud she's being. Liam fucks her through it, his jaw clenched and hands holding on to Harry's hips so tight, he's probably leaving marks. She comes down fairly quickly, then locks eyes with Liam.

“I want you to come on my tits, then I want Zayn to lick it off.” Liam groans again, immediately pulling out of Harry and taking the condom off, making a note as to where it lands when he tosses it to the side so nobody accidentally sits on it. He moves up a little so he's straddling Harry's hips, jerking himself with one hand and holding himself up with his other hand on the wall.

He's almost there, so close he can feel it, and Zayn leans forward to whisper in his ear. “I know you're almost there, Li. You fucked her so good, can't wait for you to fuck me. Maybe I'll ride you, yeah? Let you touch me all over, play with my tits while you do it? You stare at them all the time, maybe you wanna taste them, too? Get my tits in your mouth? Do you think you'd like that, _sweetheart_?”she asks, repeating what he'd said to Harry earlier, and the image he gets of her bouncing on his cock, her tits bouncing along with her, is what pushes him over the edge, coming onto Harry's chest just as she'd asked. Zayn gives Liam a quick kiss before moving so that she's on her knees at Harry's side, bending forward to lick up all of Liam's cum from Harry's chest, licking at her nipples a bit more than necessary just to hear her moan.

Cleanup is quick and easy, Liam throwing away the condom and Zayn bringing Harry a warm, damp flannel so Harry can clean off her chest. When they've all settled and, in Liam and Harry's case, got their pants back on, they get comfortable cuddled up with each other and fall asleep, Harry telling them sleepily that this is the best birthday present she could have asked for.

***

Liam wakes up first the next morning, stretching as best he can without waking up either of his girls. Well, the one girl who's still in bed. Harry's MIA, but the sound of the toilet flushing tells him where she is. She comes out a few moments later, her face still soft and full of sleep.

“Morning,” Harry says quietly as she approaches the bed and leans down for a kiss. Liam meets her halfway, needing to get up anyway because his bladder has just notified him that he needs a wee. Like, right now.

Liam sits up and scoots out of bed. Harry makes a noise in protest. “I'll be right back, love. Just need a wee. Then you can have all the cuddles you want, yeah?” Harry snuggles back into the warm blankets and Liam kisses her on the forehead before turning and going into the bathroom to do his business. Zayn's gotten new towels since he'd last been in here, he notices, and makes a note to say he likes them later.

When he crawls back into the bed, Harry immediately curls up to his chest, the blankets and her body warming him up and making him relax back into the mattress, sleep coming over him again.

The next time he wakes up, it's to Zayn and Harry talking to each other in hushed tones. Liam can only hear Harry's side of the conversation, just barely at that, but he knows they're talking about him and what happened last night. Liam rolls onto his side and snuggles up to Harry's back, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing the side of her neck.

“Are you birds gossiping about me?” he asks, nipping at Harry's neck when she tilts her head to give him more access.

“Mmm, yeah,” Harry says, both to Liam's ministrations and as answer to his question. “Was telling her how good it felt to finally get fucked. It's been months.” Liam's eyes widen at that.

“Months?”

“Yeah. I hadn't gotten laid in a while before Zayn came along, and I stopped hooking up with random people then, too. Then this whole thing started and there hasn't been much down there except for our hands and your mouths until last night.” Liam's still astonished when Zayn speaks up.

“Yeah, same for me. 'Cept I've got some toys and stuff that I've used when it's gotten really bad.” She pauses, smirking at Liam over Harry's shoulder. “So you've been wanking this whole time?” she asks, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

“No! Well,” he starts, “occasionally. But that was only before we talked about sex and stuff; after that the only time I've gotten off is with you two, and that's only happened a handful of times.”

“So you haven't wanked in over a month? Oh, Haz, we've gotta get this guy a trophy!” She and Harry both start giggling and Liam has to try really hard not to join them.

“Hey, that's no fair! You just said you wanked, too! And with your toys, or whatever.” Liam trails off because the thought of Zayn having toys somewhere in this room that she uses to fuck herself makes him blush and have to take a few deep breaths.

“Oh, Zee, I think Liam likes that,” Harry says, wiggling her bum where it's pressed against Liam's crotch. “He's harder than he was a minute ago.” Zayn reaches out for Harry, who lets herself be moved to the side of the bed while Zayn gets in the middle, next to Liam. She pushes his shoulder so that he's on his back, then straddles him and _oh_ , this is happening _now_.

“You dirty boy,” she says, leaning forward and resting her weight on her elbows to get close to his face. “You like thinking about me playing with myself, hmm? Making myself feel good?” Liam nods and can't take his eyes off of her face. “What if I told you my toys are in that drawer right next to the bed? That I could take them out whenever I want to and play with them with you and Haz?” Liam groans at the thought of Zayn using her toys on him, which isn't something he's ever thought of before. He's gonna have to do some research later.

Zayn sits up straight again, hovering _just_ above Liam's crotch. “I think I promised that I'd ride you last night, yeah?” she asks, and Liam and Harry both nod this time, both also looking at Zayn in confusion when she gracefully rolls off of Liam's lap. “What? You've gotta warm me up first, babe. I don't get wet _that_ fast.” Liam gathers himself and sits up, letting Zayn scoot closer to the middle of the bed before hovering over her and kissing her, not unlike he had Harry last night, but gentler and slower this time; he knows Zayn's not in any type of rush.

Liam starts at her lips and slowly makes his way down her body, stopping for a considerable amount of time at her neck, marking her up so she matches Harry. He kisses as far down her chest as he can with her shirt still on, then leans back so she can sit up and take it off herself, revealing something very new and _very_ hot.

“Holy shit, Zee!” Harry says, and Liam can't form words. His brain is mush. He just...can't. Can't do anything except stare at the two shiny silver barbells going horizontally through Zayn's nipples. “When did you get these done?” Harry reaches out and touches around Zayn's nipples gently, not wanting to hurt her if they're still tender.

Zayn shrugs. “About a month ago. I've wanted them for a while and I thought it would be a cool surprise for your birthday. Or, in this case, the morning _after_ your birthday. So I counted back from your birthday and got them done far enough in advance that they'd be healed by now.” Harry is looking at and touching Zayn's chest reverently, like it's a work of art in a fancy museum. Liam is still trying to decide if this is real or if he's somehow still asleep and dreaming.

“Do you like them, Li?” Zayn asks, and Liam snaps out of it to see Zayn looking almost concerned, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. She must have mistaken his silence for disapproval and he can't have that. Not today, not ever.

“ _Fuck_ , yes, Zee.” he almost moans out. He'd gotten on his knees when she'd sat up to take off her shirt, and he knees his way closer to her, straddling her hips where she's sitting up and letting Harry touch her. Liam holds her face in his hands. “They are so sexy, and they make _you_ even sexier, which I didn't even think was possible.” He looks down and gets a closer look. “ _God_ , when you said that thing about your tits in my mouth last night, I would have given anything to be able to go for round two right then, but now... _fuck_ , Zee.” He pauses before looking up at her face. “I _can_ put them in my mouth, right?” Zayn nods.

“Yeah, they're all healed up. I even took the bars out a couple days ago and they came out and went back in really smoothly so.” She shrugs again, like this is no big deal, like she hasn't just made Harry and Liam's respective worlds stop turning for half a second with her fucking nipples.

Liam nods, having again run out of words, and knees himself back to where he'd been before, Zayn sliding down so she's on her back with Liam straddling her hips. He waits for her confirmation that she's comfortable and kisses her again, a few times on the mouth then trailing down her neck to her chest again, this time kissing and nipping at her breasts before gently licking at one of her nipples.

“Holy shit!” Zayn cries out, one hand going to cover her mouth and the other resting on the back of Liam's head, who had looked up at Zayn's outburst, worried that he'd hurt her. “That feels so much better than it used to. Fuck, do it again.” Liam does, this time using the rough surface of his tongue instead of the tip like he had before. “Yeah, still good.” Zayn takes a second to catch her breath. “Do you think you could try, like, biting it? Not too hard, though. Just like, a nibble?” Liam laughs at the way she still gets flustered asking for things, but does as she'd asked, pulling away when he hears her hiss. “Okay, that hurts. Note to self.” She takes a few calming breaths before nodding, letting Liam go back to what he was doing.

He's gentle the whole time, licking around her nipples, playing with the bars with his tongue. It's fun, and the way Zayn shivers every once in a while doesn't hurt.

He's about to move down her torso to get between her legs, use his tongue down there, when she moans, real and loud and long. Liam pulls back from her chest, knowing he didn't make her do that, and he sees Harry on her stomach between Zayn's knees, a hand up between Zayn's legs, rubbing up and down her folds, occasionally ghosting a finger against her clit. Liam must have been really into Zayn's nipples because he didn't even notice Harry taking her shorts and pants off. He moves down her body anyway, leaving kisses and love bites everywhere his mouth lands, not putting much effort into them but loving the way they make Zayn wriggle around.

Soon enough, Liam joins Harry between Zayn's legs, where they have a short hushed discussion on how to proceed. Liam stays between Zayn's legs and Harry moves to sit behind Zayn, just as Zayn had for her the night before. Zayn sits up a bit to lean her head back against Harry's chest, accepting the kiss that Harry offers once she gets there. Liam goes down on Zayn just as he had Harry the night before, but he stays there longer now, drawing it out into a nice, slow morning fuck. He licks her all over, loving the way she tastes in the morning, loving the soft sighs she lets out as he does so. She's never been very vocal when they've done things like this, Harry far and away being the loudest of the three, but Liam likes that about her. It's easier to tell when he's doing something right, too, knowing that she only moans when something feels particularly good or she's caught by surprise.

Liam takes his time eating her out, knowing that he could stay here all day if he wanted. He shifts forward a bit so his tongue is flat against her clit, one of his fingers coming up to gather some of her wetness before pushing in. She hadn't seen him move, too busy kissing Harry, so his finger shocks another moan out of her.

He keeps going, slow and steady, adding a second finger and a third not long after, loving the feeling of her walls tightening around him when he does something clever with his tongue. At one point, he takes his mouth off of her to look at her, and she's covered in sweat, the moisture on her skin making it glisten in the low light coming through her windows. He pumps his fingers in and out a few more times before pulling them out and wiping them on the sheet. He moves up Zayn's body and detaches her mouth from Harry's, replacing it with his own, kissing both of his girls before sitting up on his knees.

“You ready, love?” he asks Zayn, and she nods, her pupils wide and her forehead a bit shiny from sweat. They switch places, Liam lying on his back and Zayn moving to straddle him, first getting the lube and a condom out of her drawer ( _where she keeps her toys_ , Liam thinks, and it makes his dick twitch). She also pulls her hair up into a messy bun, having slept with it down, fanning at the back of her neck for a second before taking her position.

Liam's hard, but apparently not hard enough for Zayn, who scoots down his body and takes his dick into her mouth. They haven't done this very often, maybe two or three times, and Liam forgot how good it felt to get a blowjob. Zayn's an expert with her mouth, doing things with her tongue and lips and teeth that make him whimper.

“Just wanted a taste, love,” she says after she pulls off and straddles him again, and he's vaguely reminded of what he'd told Harry the night before when he went down on her.

His thought process is stopped short when Zayn rolls the condom onto him, slicking him up with a bit of lube before sliding down onto his cock, taking it all in one go. She and Liam both moan from the time his tip enters her until she's fully seated, staying still for a minute to catch their breath.

Zayn starts moving her hips slowly, just grinding back and forth, and it feels fantastic on both ends. Zayn hasn't had a cock in her that wasn't plastic or silicone for months, and the warmth of Liam's cock and the way she can almost feel his blood pumping through it make her want to ride him every day. Liam's just happy to finally be fucking her, on top of getting to fuck Harry the night before, getting to make both of his girls feel good in a twelve-hour period.

Harry slips in behind Zayn and starts touching her all over and kissing her neck and shoulders, whispering what Liam can only assume are encouragements as Zayn keeps grinding down onto Liam.

After a few minutes, she starts to bounce a bit, resting her hands on Liam's chest for support, Harry's front plastered against her back no matter how she moves.

Liam doesn't mind the slow pace that Zayn's set, especially since that means that he can kiss her as she rides him, running his hands down her sides and over her chest, never forgetting about her new sensitivity thanks to her nipple piercings. He takes a risk while his hands are roaming around her chest, using both hands to pinch at her nipples ever so slightly, and makes a note to Definitely Do It Again when he feels how tight she clenches around him and hears the groan she makes in the back of her throat.

After a while, Zayn starts to get impatient, so she speeds up her bouncing a bit.

“You want me to fuck you harder, babe?” Liam asks, his hands on her hips.

“Yeah,” Zayn says, resting her hands on top of his before leaning forward to rest her hands back on his chest, getting close to his face as she does so. “Want you to fucking pound me.”

Liam, always the one to follow directions, bends his knees and sets his feet flat on the mattress, which causes Harry to move over to the side before letting Zayn shift her hips to be more comfortable. She braces herself with her hands on the bed on either side of Liam's throat, then gives him a nod. He thrusts up into her, hard, and she moans loudly, a wicked smile on her face when Liam looks at her.

So much for a nice, slow morning fuck.

Liam keeps Zayn mostly still with his hands on her hips, fucking up into her as hard and as fast as he can. A look over to Harry tells him that she's enjoying the show, if the hand she has down her pants is any indication.

“Liam,” Zayn moans, which makes his dick twitch. “'M close, babe.” Liam nods and kisses her, though it's more just panting with their mouths pressed together. Zayn pulls back just enough to look into Liam's eyes. “Wanna come on your cock, baby. Wanna make you come inside me, wanna feel it when you come.” She sits up a bit, reaching a hand down between her legs to rub at her clit. “Tell me to come, baby, tell me how good I've been, how good I look with you inside me, fucking me so good. Make it be the only thing I can think about for the next week.” With that, Liam carefully and quickly flips them over so that Zayn's on her back, never even missing a beat with his thrusts.

“Ohhhhhhh my God, Liam! Right there, fuck!” Liam smirks to himself for finding her g-spot, not changing the angle he's at so that he hits it every time.

“'M gonna come, baby. Want you to feel it, want it to make you come, squeeze all that cum out of you.” Liam leans his head down against Zayn's collarbone at that, groaning and biting down on the skin there to ground himself. That's what sets her off, his constant stimulation of her g-spot and the hint of pain she get from him biting her. Her orgasm set him off, doing exactly as she'd said and squeezing all of his cum out. Beside them, Harry is moaning softly, the sounds coming out more like hums as she rubs at her clit in her pants, gasping and smiling when she falls over the edge of her orgasm. Her eyes flutter open when she's done and, looking between his two girls, he doesn't think he's ever seen them as beautiful as they are now, post-orgasm and still a little soft from sleep.

***

The rest of the semester flies by and, before they know it, it's almost the end of finals week and only a few days until Liam graduates and moves back home. Harry was supposed to go back home for the summer, too, but the head of the culinary department had somehow found out about Harry's love for baking and offered her a spot in one of the summer courses on campus. It would be possible for Harry to go home and drive back and forth to school every day, but completely unnecessary, so she's arranged to stay with Zayn in her flat, and even offered to get a part-time job to help pay the rent.

The girls try to cope with Liam leaving by helping him sort through his things and pack, stealing a few of his shirts and making him promise to come visit when they don't smell like him anymore.

Graduation day is full of smiles and tears between the three of them, all happy for Liam for graduating and already having a job lined up at home and being that much closer to doing what he really wants to do in life. Harry and Zayn both feel selfish for wanting Liam to stay with them, but they know this job is a big deal and that Liam's going to love it, and keep reminding themselves of that as they help Liam load up his car after the graduation ceremony is over. He gives them both sound kisses, trying to pour all the love he has for each of them into the simple action, and holds them in a group hug for far longer than necessary, but anyone who doesn't like it can shove off.

“I'm gonna miss you so much,” Zayn says, and Harry nods in agreement, not trusting her voice to not waver or the tears building in her eyes to not fall. Liam's eyes are wet, too, and he pulls them in for another hug.

“I'm gonna miss you, too, Zee. Both of you.” They stand there for a bit, crying on each other before breaking apart and wiping at their eyes. They say their goodbyes and Liam gets into his car, agreeing with Zayn when she says that if he doesn't do it now, he never will.

Harry and Zayn watch as Liam's car disappears down the road, keep watching until it gets too small to see, then wrap their arms around each other and cry a bit more.

“It's gonna be okay, Haz,” Zayn says, sniffling, her voice thick with emotion. Harry's more upset about Liam leaving than she is, but Harry's more sensitive than most people, wears her heart on her sleeve and falls in love with everyone she meets. Her upset is completely understandable. “We'll make it work, and he'll come and visit as much as he can.” She kisses the top of Harry's head, something normally impossible as Harry's taller than her, but she's tucked so far into Zayn's chest and so hunched over that it's possible. At that, Harry stands back up, her eyes puffy and bloodshot, her face wet with tear tracks, her nose all runny. Zayn still thinks she's beautiful. “It's all gonna be okay, love. I promise.”

Harry believes her.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, I hope you liked it! if you did, let me know! I've got tons more ideas for timestamps and other things for this verse, so there should be more uni Zirry in the future, if people want it.
> 
> if you'd like, my tumblr is [calumspiercedhood](calumspiercedhood.tumblr.com), same as it is here :)


End file.
